Shock of the Old
by Rogue 559
Summary: The past can be left behind. But running away doesn't solve everything and sooner or later your history is going to catch up with you.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: the members of Mutant X do not belong to me but any characters you don't recognize probably do.

This story is the third in a trilogy after Golddigger and Catching Up (you don't necessarily have to read those first though be warned it might help). Its set four years ish after the end of Catching Up and everything's very different.

* * *

She looked around her, her brunette hair shining in the sunlight as it moved. The smell of oil and gasoline hit her nostrils and she breathed it in. She had always liked that smell, it was warm and tangy and immediately recognisable. She walked forward, turning for a second to glance back at the car she had just gotten out of. She smiled as she looked at him, his ash blonde hair falling in his eyes as he re-tuned the radio. She would have to remember to change it back.

She turned again and moved towards the door into the garage. The sounds of a local radio station filtered through the metal and she could hear banging and clinking as somebody worked on a car. A million thoughts filled her mind. Would he want to see her? Would he want to help? Or would he want to leave it all behind just like they had all done back then? There were so many questions and uncertainties but she knew that she had to atleast ask some of those questions, she had to solve some of those uncertainties.

She pushed the door open, the sounds which had previously been dulled coming into focus. She looked around her as she tried to accustom her eyes to the relative darkness inside the building. Eventually she stopped being able to just see shapes and outlines and shadows and she took in the whole room. Two cars were in front of her, one of them raised above head level. The other was still on the ground and she looked closer at the man with his head under the bonnet. He was fiddling with something she didn't know the name of, his t-shirt covered in dark splashes of grease. He hadn't seen or heard her come in and she stood there watching him for a whole minute. He hadn't changed a bit, atleast not on the outside.

He eventually stood up, straightening his back and groaning as his muscles tensed and bones clicked back into place. He looked over at her. His eyes widened and his mouth opened as if he was about to say something. She waited expectantly, wanting to hear him speak, but he closed his mouth and just stared at her.

'Hi,' she said, lightly, hoping that her voice didn't betray her real emotions. She had become so good at that kind of thing, putting on an act that she occasionally found it difficult to stop, but with him it was different. He knew her better than most and she knew he could tell she was faking her cheery demeanor from his raised eyebrows.

'What do you want?' he replied. He frowned as the words came out. He hadn't meant to sound quite so harsh but her appearance was unexpected to say the least. He watched as the veneer reset itself on her face. Her look was that of business and he could tell that he had put her off any small talk she might have been considering. He was sorry for that, he wanted to know what had been going on in her life, how she was, if she was happy.

'We need your help,' she answered briskly.

'Who's we?' he asked cautiously.

'Take your lunch break and find out,' she said. She hadn't wanted to be so cryptic but sometimes even the walls had ears.

He considered the proposition for a moment, running the idea through his mind. Did he even want to drag up a part of his life he had left behind? He didn't know. But he couldn't let her go without listening to what she had to say. He figured he owed her that much atleast. He turned and walked towards the office located at the back of the building, a small room with filing cabinets adorning the walls, a small desk littered with papers and a few cardboard boxes housing car pieces. He pushed open the door and looked at his boss, a man more happy with his hand inside an engine than holding a pen.

'It okay if I take my lunch break now?' Brennan asked, trying to act as if it was just another day.

'Sure. Who's the brunette?' he asked, admiration present in his eyes.

'A blast from the past.'

* * *

Lexa led Brennan into a café a couple of streets away from the garage. She slid herself into a booth, looking out of the window as she did so. She checked the tops of buildings, scanned the windows across the street and looked for the car driven by Jesse. She located him and turned back to Brennan as he sat down. She had checked out her surroundings so subtly that he hadn't noticed a thing. She picked up the menu mostly so she would have something to do with her hands. She knew she was presenting a good front but that didn't make her any less nervous about talking to Brennan. The circumstances under which everything had fallen apart had not been pleasant ones and she had a feeling that neither of them were going to walk out of the café feeling like the meeting had been satisfactory.

'Can I take your order?' Lexa looked up as the waitress spoke. She ordered a black coffee, not sure that her stomach could handle food at that moment in time. Brennan ordered the same and a sandwich before leaning back in his seat. He looked at her, his eyes betraying his feelings of curiosity.

'So, who's we and what do you want help with?' he asked.

She raised her eyebrows at his brusqueness. She guessed that she deserved it and leant her elbows on the table. She knew the building wasn't bugged by the enemy but she had been ordered not to give away too much information to the man sitting in front of her. Despite her best entreaties that he was someone they could trust she was still forbidden from telling him too much.

'Jesse,' she replied, frowning as she realised that she was doing the cryptic thing again.

'Jesse's here,' Brennan said, his voice rising in excitement as he leaned forward on the table.

'Not here, but close.'

As the waitress bought over their order they both pulled apart and remained mute until she had left.

'Look, Brennan, I need to get straight to the point. There are certain things that I can't tell you and I'm sorry that I'm having to keep you in the dark about some stuff but that's just the way it has to be.'

'And I thought we had left Sanctuary,' he bit back, annoyed at the secrets.

'Brennan, I'm sorry.' She looked him straight in the eye, hoping to reassure him that she was worth listening to. 'Its about the Dominion.'

He raised his eyebrows at the mention of the name. He thought he had left them far behind him.

'What about the Dominion?'

'For the past four years myself and Jesse have been working with people to try and bring the Dominion down. We've managed to take out over fifty key players. But they're limbs, they count only in what they can give to the Dominion, they're not what make up the organisation itself. And we've learnt that that elite group do not need others to provide them with resources, they're capable of doing that by themselves. We need your help because we've gotten to the point where there are no more limbs to cut off. We're going for the big guys which is where you come in.' Having finished the speech she had written and rewritten over again in her head she took a sip of her coffee before making eye contact again. He looked away, not sure what to make of what he had just been told. He had tried to leave that life behind him a long time ago and to now be dragged back in was a little overwhelming.

'I don't know,' he said hesitantly.

'We don't have much time which means you don't have much time to make a decision about what you want to do,' she said. 'But I can give you three hours.'

He closed his eyes. Three hours was not enough to make a choice between going back to the garage and living the life he had carved out for himself or going off into the big bad Mutant X style world all over again.

He nodded as he grabbed the sandwich off his plate and stood up.

'Brennan,' she said as he walked past her. 'I don't want to force you into anything but we need you.' He dodged her gaze, unable to look into her pleading eyes, pushed the door open and stepped out onto the street.

She stood up, the coffee in front of her forgotten and walked through to the back of the café, pushing the door to the kitchen open. She walked through the room, shouts echoing off the walls and the smell of bacon and toast wafting towards her nostrils. She continued to walk through the room until she reached a door on the opposite side from the one she had entered through. She pulled it open and walked into a small back room.

'Three hours, Lexa?' a blonde man asked as he walked up to her and handed her a folder full of paper.

'I know, I know, we don't have that much time but he's having to deal with some pretty complicated stuff,' she said as she rifled through all the sheets of paper.

'These are all the new recruits of the Dominion, or at least all the ones who look like they'll be sticking around,' the man said.

She nodded as she took a seat against one of the walls of the room. After Mutant X had split up her and Jesse had been picked up by the CIA. After a period of intensive training which neither of them really needed they had begun work on taking apart the Dominion piece by piece. She had liked that they didn't have to do any of the research stuff anymore, it had been good to just go out and deal with the kicking ass part. But working for the CIA had also been a little terrifying. They had tons more resources than Mutant X had ever had but it had resulted in her knowing a hell of a lot more about the Dominion than she had ever wanted to. All the things they had done and the sheer size of their operation scared the hell out of her. But atleast she always had Jesse to keep her grounded and make her feel safe. She smiled at the thought of her boyfriend. It was a term she had never really used before in her life but that was exactly what Jesse was. And she couldn't have been happier. While so many other parts of her life were screwed up beyond the telling of it atleast he always remained steady, her rock.

She looked up from the document on her lap as she heard his voice. She watched as he looked around the room and she smiled as his eyes fell on her and his face lit up with a boyish smile of his own. He walked towards her and bent down, kissing her lightly on the lips. She moaned quietly, an unnoticeable sound in the small room full of people and wrapped her arm around the back of his neck, pulling him closer. The kiss gradually became harder, more passionate, more intense until they both broke apart, shamefaced at making out in front of so many people.

'How was he?' Jesse asked as he lowered himself to the floor next to Lexa's chair.

'Overwhelmed,' she replied. 'A little confused about everything, and he wasn't happy about the complete lack of information I gave him.'

'Do you think he'll agree?'

'I don't know.'

* * *

She looked up as the door was pushed open and sighed deeply as she saw that it wasn't Brennan. It had been three hours seven minutes since they had talked and she was getting anxious. She wasn't worried that something had happened to him, there wasn't any danger of that happening but she was worried that he simply wasn't going to turn up at all. He had no idea what was going on and he had no idea how much Jesse and she needed him. They did and the only reason she hadn't impressed that on him more was because she hadn't been able to tell him anything real.

Her eyes flicked up again as a couple, a tall red haired man and a shorter brunette woman walked in. They headed straight for a table and sat down, staring into each others eyes as an animated conversation followed. She stood, unable to wait any longer for him. She had given him enough time to turn up and although she couldn't blame him for not showing there was still a part of her that was angry at him. She couldn't quite believe that he had been so successful at leaving his old life behind.

She walked out of the café and onto the street, dodging moving vehicles as she made her way across the road towards the car Jesse was stationed in. She saw his disappointed face as she moved closer but his eyes then moved past her and they lit up fractionally. She turned and saw Brennan running across the street towards her, a bag slung over his shoulder.

'Not too late am I?' he said, breathlessly as he reached her.

She smiled in reply and motioned towards the car. Brennan slid into the backseat as Lexa got into the passenger one.

'Lets go,' she said, her voice less heavy and sullen than before. She rolled down the window as the car pulled out into the traffic and headed off to try and find the rest of Mutant X.


	2. Chapter 2

Here's chapter 2 of the story. I know you've been wondering where Shalimar is and in this chapter you get to find that out. I'm a little disappointed with the feedback in terms of the number of reviews I didn't get but I don't know so many people around here anymore...things change while you're not paying attention to fanfiction. Please try and review, it'd help me out.

* * *

'Taylor!'

The woman turned to look behind her into the building she had just exited. Her loose hair blew in the light breeze which was as much caused by the weather as the cars driving past. She frowned slightly as she looked into the darkened foyer but the frown disappeared as a blonde girl came running into sight. She sprinted towards her mother, a book in one hand, her school bag in the other. The woman kept one hand on the door, holding it open until the girl had made her way onto the street and then let it slam closed. She took the book and the bag from Taylor and placed one inside the other with an ease developed out of necessity. They stood there, on the sidewalk as the woman placed the bag on Taylor's back, making sure it was fastened tight before taking the girls hand and looking both ways before stepping out into the road. They crossed with ease, a smile appearing on the woman's face as the little girl chattered away about what she planned to do that day.

As they moved out of the shadows of the buildings the sun lit up their blonde locks. They were so similar it would have been impossible to miss the fact that they were mother and daughter. They both had the same far seeing eyes, the same wild untamable hair, the same fluid movements.

The woman pulled up the sleeve of her jacket and looked at her watch, her eyes opening wider and her eyebrows rising on her forehead.

'Dammit!'

The girl looked up at the woman, concern marring her pretty features. The woman looked down at her and wrinkled her nose.

'Sorry,' she said. 'We're late is all.'

'It'll be okay,' said the little girl, her voice full of determination giving the impression that if everything wasn't okay she was going to have to kick some ass.

They carried on walking at a faster pace until they reached another apartment building. The woman pushed the buzzer and then leaned against the wall waiting for a reply over the intercom. Music floated down from the building above on the breeze and she found herself humming along to a song she knew.

'Hello?'

'Hi, sorry I'm late,' she said.

'You want me to come down and get Taylor so you can get straight off?'

'You're a star and I love you.'

Two minutes later, after goodbyes had been said and hugs exchanged the woman was running along the road. She had five minutes to get to work before she was officially late and no amount of running was going to get her there on time. She slipped into a back alley and jogged along it for a few yards. She came to a halt and looked around her. There were no windows on the buildings on either side and she couldn't hear or see anyone in the immediate vicinity. She looked up, bent her legs and jumped.

She looked around her again, checking out the rooftops. The view was pretty amazing, especially at that time of the morning. The sun wasn't yet at its peak and the freshness of dawn still lingered in the air. The corners of her mouth lifted as she ran across the tops of the buildings, making sure nobody could see her before jumping from roof to roof.

She followed the system for two minutes as she drew closer to her destination. As she reached the building she found another well placed alley and dropped through the crack in the buildings. She landed lightly on the floor before tying up her hair into a loose bun and walking towards a metal door, set into the wall, signs of rust setting in. She pulled it open roughly, anticipating the reluctance of it to swing back on its hinges. The sound of music hit her ears and the smell of beer and cigarettes forced itself into her nose. She breathed it in. There was something comforting about that pungent scent and she smiled as the noise of voices drifted towards her.

She stepped in and slammed the door behind her.

* * *

'We've received reports from contacts of the CIA that she works around here,' Lexa stated as the car slid along the streets silently. It had been over twenty four hours since her and Jesse had picked up Brennan and since then they had managed to travel from Vancouver on a CIA jet to New York City. Even given the fact that there had been twenty four hours between then and now it had been impossible to fill Brennan in on everything that had happened and for him to do the same. They had each told the other the cliffs notes versions and Lexa had hoped that it didn't make the four years apart sound trivial.

'Do they know anything more?' Brennan asked, looking out of the window as the tall buildings sped past.

'We didn't keep tags on you guys, didn't think it was right to track you. What we know now we've learnt in the past few months, ever since the Dominion became a more urgent threat.'

Jesse pulled the car over to the side of the road, easily fitting the vehicle in between two others. He turned in his seat to look at Brennan, who was still more than a little distracted by the New York City landscape.

'You wanna go in alone?' he asked. He knew what was between Brennan and Shalimar, always had even when they refused to acknowledge it.

'No,' Brennan said after a long pause. 'You guys haven't seen her either, who says I get to be the first.' He pushed open the car door and stood up on the sidewalk, people moving past him at high speeds, all of them desperate to get somewhere. He was nervous. Four years ago he wouldn't have believed it possible that he could have spent so little time in Shalimar's presence and now he was uneasy at the thought of seeing her again. He wanted to find out how she had been in the years which had passed since they had last seen each other but now it was daunting. How was he supposed to tell her about his life and vice versa when they didn't even know each other anymore? What if she had changed into a new person? What if she hated him?

He waited for Lexa and Jesse to join him on the sidewalk and allowed Lexa to move ahead of him to a door under a bright neon sign, blinding even in the daylight. She pushed the door open and the sound of music washed over them. They all walked in, having to wait for their eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Brennan found her instantly. She was wiping down the bar, her arm reaching from one side to the other, a grey cloth clutched in her hand. She raised the other hand to brush an errant strand of hair away from her face. It was tied up messily on top of her head and Brennan watched as tendrils which hadn't been caught up in the hairband brushed against her neck. He could have watched her forever, she was so graceful and her movements were so elegant. He stood in the entrance to the bar, unsure what to do next. Thankfully Jesse made the decision for him.

He walked past the other two, who still seemed to be taking in the view and headed straight towards the bar. He leant against it and looked at Shalimar. She looked like the same woman he had always referred to as his sister. But she seemed older, more mature. Not that she could ever have really been considered as immature but she seemed to have grown up a lot in four years. He had a feeling that he preferred the old Shalimar.

She stacked the glasses, hearing the smashes and clinks as they bumped against each other. She had only been at work for a few hours but she already wanted to leave. She was tired of the normal life she was leading, she felt restless. The feeling hit her occasionally and she would be struck by this intense desire to return to Sanctuary and Mutant X, to embrace that part of her life, the part that she made the pretense of having left behind.

She frowned as she felt eyes boring into the back of her neck. She straightened her back, trying to ignore the feeling and dismiss it as paranoia. But tears sprang to her eyes and her bottom lip began to quiver. She could feel him. He was in the room and he knew she was there. She wanted to turn around to face him but she couldn't afford for her life to become any more complicated than it already was. She had bigger priorities than that now, including her daughter. She couldn't head down that road again, she couldn't allow herself to care about him.

She could feel Lexa and Jesse as well. She could sense their anxieties, she could sense how much they wanted her to turn around and look them in the eyes but she couldn't. Life always got too hard when she let people in, a lesson she had ironically learnt from Lexa.

She walked over to her boss and claimed ill health as a reason to go home. She couldn't be where they were. She had to get out of there. She walked through a door at the opposite end of the bar to Jesse and let herself out, grabbing her jacket and bag as she went.

Once she had reached the outside world she leant against the brick wall, cool and slightly damp. She felt like she was being suffocated and she tried to take deep breaths to fill her lungs. Her eyes closed and she felt her breathing regulate itself. She knew they would find her but she needed time to prepare. She couldn't face them without readying herself first.

* * *

'Can I help you?' asked a tall brunette as she looked Jesse straight in the eye.

'I'm looking for a woman called Shalimar,' he replied. He had seen her leave from behind the bar and he knew that shewasn't there anymore. She had gone, she had run at the first sign of them but he was hoping against hope that she was just in the back of the building.

'She's just gone home. She said she wasn't feeling very well,' the woman said with a small smile.

'Thanks.'

He turned around and looked at the two people waiting expectantly. He lowered his eyes and felt his shoulders droop. He had been hoping to talk to Shalimar, he had missed her more than he let anyone know.

* * *

She turned suddenly at the sound of the buzzer. She had been sitting in her apartment, wondering what to do about the whole Mutant X situation. She had watched the sky gradually getting darker as night drew in. She became more alive, and more restless. It was like she couldn't even sit down she was so full of energy.

She stood up and walked over to the buzzer set into the wall. She would usually have gotten home at that time of night and Taylor would have been dropped off. But she didn't want to take the chance that Brennan, Lexa and Jesse had found her. She didn't want to face all of that drama that night. Despite having so much energy inside of her, rushing through her veins she was exhausted. She was tired of all the complications that it appeared she couldn't get away from.

She pushed the button connecting the intercom with the one on the ground floor and breathed a sigh of relief as she heard Taylor's distinct breathing. She had clearly been running along the road, her energy levels increasing as Shalimar's did.

'Hey,' Shalimar said as she leant against the wall of her apartment, a smile appearing on her face as she pictured Taylor. She was probably beyond messy after a day of playing around and Shalimar could see her crazy hair, something she inherited from her mother.

'Hey mummy,' came the answer from the little girl, her voice breathless and coming out in short gasps. Shalimar heard the footsteps of Elizabeth, the friend who had been taking care of Taylor all day.

'Hi Lizzy,' Shalimar called out. 'I'll come down.'

Thirty seconds later Shalimar pushed open the door and had her knees enveloped in a huge hug from Taylor. She laughed out loud, the noise rising in the quiet night air.

'You dropping her off tomorrow?' Elizabeth asked.

'Yeah, if you're sure that's okay,' Shalimar replied, feeling extremely guilty at how much work Elizabeth was putting in to look after Taylor without getting any kind of payment for it. Shalimar had put forward the proposal but Elizabeth had refused on the grounds that she loved looking after the little girl. But Shalimar knew it was because Elizabeth knew about her current financial situation, the reason why she could just about afford to rent an apartment.

'Okay, I'll see you tomorrow,' she said hugging Shalimar before turning to Taylor. 'And you had better think of something to do.'

'Okay, bye Elizabeth,' Taylor replied, before grabbing her mothers hand and attempting to drag her inside.

Shalimar looked across the street just as a car pulled up. Her eyes flashed in the dark as she looked at the woman in the passenger seat. She didn't want to do the whole arguing thing at that point in time.

'Honey, go inside and I'll meet you up there in a minute, okay?' Shalimar said as easily as she could, trying not to alert Taylor to the presence of Mutant X. She watched the door shut and Taylor push the button to get in the lift before turning to greet them.

'What are you doing here?' she called out before they had even begun to cross the road.

'Shalimar, we just need to talk to you,' Jesse replied. He didn't want to face an angry pissed off feral but he had to talk about things with her, she had to know what was going on so she could make an informed decision.

'What about?'

'The dominion,' Lexa said. She looked Shalimar straight in the eye and saw her frown slightly. It looked like she might have been interested but then her expression changed.

'I left that behind a long time ago. I have a different life now, one that I want to concentrate on and unfortunately the Dominion and you don't feature in it.' She knew what she had said was cruel but she had to get rid of them. There was no way she was getting Taylor involved in the crap that Shalimar had left in her past. She turned with a flick of her hair, knowing that he was standing beside the car, watching her every movement, choosing to remain hidden in the shadows. But she chose not to acknowledge his presence, if she did she knew she would be stuck there forever. She rammed her key into the lock of the door and yanked it open. She turned again, her eyes focused on the floor and slammed it shut behind her. She knew that if Jesse had chosen to he could have phased his way through it but she was hoping that he would respect her decision.

She ran up the stairs two at a time not wanting to waste time waiting for the elevator. She could feel the tears welling up all over again. Before she started crying she reached her floor and saw Taylor standing outside the door, waiting quietly. Shalimar smiled at her, trying to reassure her that everything was okay but knowing that Taylor would know quite how wrong everything was.

'Come on, you have to get to bed.'

* * *

Shalimar shut the door behind her silently. Taylor had fallen asleep almost instantly and Shalimar was thankful that the usual barrage of questions hadn't come. She couldn't have handled the interrogation from her.

She walked out of the apartment, picking up her keys as she went knowing exactly where she was going. She turned right into the stairwell and walked up the stairs. Eventually she reached a door and pushed it open. The night air was cool and fresh. Shalimar slid a brick left there for the purpose in between the door and the frame so it wouldn't lock her out when it slammed closed.

She made her way towards the edge of the rooftop. The skyscrapers of New York were laid out before her, their lights twinkling in the darkness, drawing her to them. She loved the country, it was her natural habitat after all. Her original reason for coming to New York was that she could easily get lost in its crowds. There were so many people, all of them with a place to be and they were all constantly moving around. But gradually the charms of the city and city life had grown on her. She loved that there were people everywhere you looked, but she also loved that when she wanted to get away from that she could climb the few flights of stairs to the roof of her building and she would reach peace and tranquility. She had never believed that it would happen but she had become a city girl.

She felt him before she heard him. She had always felt an intense connection with Brennan, even after only knowing each other for a few days they had forged this link. She wasn't quite sure how to define it but she liked that she knew where he was within a radius of 100 feet. Her ears picked up the sounds of his footsteps as he walked through the door and onto the roof. She turned as she heard the sound of the brick being kicked out of the way by his foot. He probably hadn't even seen it.

'Brennan!' she called, but it was too late. The door closed behind him with a dull bang.


	3. Chapter 3

This chapters very Brennan/Shalimar oriented and it kinda starts a while sub plot type thing. Enjoy and take the time to review.

Amber Cloud - I started writing this story months before you posted your first chapter so there is no way that I could have stolen your ideas, even if I wanted to. I've already written 19 chapters of Shock of the Old so I really don't think you have anything to worry about. And btw, there are always going to be similarities in terms of themes in these fanfictions. Mutant X had only three seasons, at most 6 well established characters and there are 1139 fanfictions on this website. Similarities are something you're just gonna have to give up worrying about.

* * *

'What?' he said, looking at her, eyebrows raised, tone indignant.

'The door,' she replied wearily. She now realised quite how annoying it was to have someone do something impetuously without even considering the consequences. She watched him as he turned around and reached out for the door handle.

'Don't bother, its not gonna open,' she said. He grasped the door handle anyway and started yanking on it, trying to force it open. She glared at his back before rolling her eyes.

'Brennan,' she said, trying to get him to stop. This was not quite what she had imagined their reunion to be. He didn't, however stop pulling at the door.

'Brennan!' she yelled across the rooftop. He stopped what he was doing and turned suddenly to stare in disbelief at the blonde woman. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes had a look of irritation and something else he couldn't quite read. He couldn't believe that it was four years. He didn't know how much he had changed, he didn't feel any different but if Shalimar had changed then he figured he had to have too. It wasn't that she looked different, she still had the same wild blonde waves reaching all the way down her back, and she still had those same curves that he used to love watching and touching. She was gorgeous and she always had been. But there was that something behind her eyes. She wasn't as soft as she had been, she had lost that instant warmth. He remembered when he first saw her, during the fight on the Skywalk. She had been radiant and every day since that one she had retained that. No matter what was going on, even when Emma died and Adam disappeared she still had that same fire, that spark. It was what he really loved about her, it was what had held him together even in the darkest of times. But it had faded, she had faded. Whatever had taken place in the four years since he had last seen her had made her hard, harsh, cold.

'Its been too long,' he said. He watched her as her head dropped a little. Her muscles relaxed and she seemed to breath in deeply before sighing the breath out. She turned around and walked to the edge of the roof.

'Don't jump, please,' he said, recognising how she had an escape not open to him.

She turned to face him, eyebrows raised. 'I couldn't if I wanted to,' she said as she took a seat on the wall which surrounded the roof, separating it from the drop to the ground below. 'And I don't want to,' she added, looking him straight in the eye. She didn't want to leave. They had a lot to catch up on, not trivial stuff like where they worked and whether they were dating anyone. Important stuff, things that counted, like whether or not they were going to regroup. She had guessed that that was what the whole thing was about. She hadn't seen or heard from Jesse, Lexa or Brennan in years so when they all showed up at her place of work and then at her home she knew something had to be going down.

She looked up at the sky, watching as the few clouds that had floated around during the day passed over the stars. She was out of the city enough that she could make some of them out, too close for the sky to be pitch black. She felt a light breeze wash over her, making her feel cool, fresh. The hunt called to her. What she hunted didn't matter, it was the waiting and then the chase that made her feel alive. Since she had moved to New York the opportunities for hunting her prey had become smaller and had appeared less often. She couldn't leave Taylor for very long. She stood up quickly as she thought of Taylor. She would be all alone, and if she woke up she would wonder where her mother was.

'What's the matter?' Brennan asked in suprise as Shalimar shot up from her perch on the wall.

'Taylor. She's alone in the apartment. I have to get back to her,' Shalimar said her tone full of urgency as she jogged towards the door. She reached out her hand but stopped as Brennan grasped her wrist. She looked up at him, a frown marring her features.

'What the hell are you doing?'

'Lexa and Jesse are hanging out in your apartment, they'll keep an eye on Taylor for you.'

She saw a flash of bitterness cross his eyes as he let go of her arm. She felt a blush rise up her neck towards her face. Maybe she was in denial, maybe she had just temporarily not been thinking but she had completely neglected to think about Brennan. She knew she shouldn't feel guilty about it, she was only doing what any mother would have but it was bound to have hurt him. She had left and now she had a daughter.

She wandered away from him across the roof and reached down to a small cupboard. She opened the door and pulled out a pack of matches, kept in there to keep dry. She walked around the roof lighting randomly placed candles and when she was finished the roof had been transformed. There were patches of glowing light, shadows cast by flower pots which had been unnoticeable in the dark. She breathed in the smell of lavender and clematis. All the scents mingled together and she loved it. It calmed her when the garden looked like a classy Santa's grotto.

'So what are we going to do now?'

She looked at him. It had been a while. She had imagined this reunion a million times over in her head and everytime she had come up with the perfect thing to say. She would say something funny and they would both laugh and everything would be forgotten in an instant; or she would say something poignant and they would both look off into the middle distance and everything would be forgotten in an instant; or she would walk up to him and they would kiss, deeply, passionately, intensely, gently. And of course everything would be forgotten in an instant. But real life, it turned out was much more complicated than her imagination.

'We could talk, its not like we've done that in a while.'

His eyes met hers and she could see he agreed with her plan. They were gonna be stuck up there for a while, until they figured how to get down or atleast until somebody opened the door, and they had to do something to pass the time.

'What do you want to talk about?' he asked as he slumped onto the wall. It had been a long couple of days and the flying, even in a regular plane was something he wasn't very used to. He rested his elbows on his knees and leant his head in his hands. He needed to sleep but there was now very little chance of that happening.

'I don't know. Its more difficult than I thought it would be.'

'What is?'

'Seeing you again.' Her eyes stared straight into his. She blinked and looked away, suddenly embarrassed by her bold answer. 'I mean, seeing all of you again,' she backtracked, attempting to cover up the emotions she was feeling towards Brennan at that moment.

'Yeah, ditto,' he replied. He knew what she meant, the first and second comments. It was difficult seeing them all again, talking to them. The way things had ended he didn't think he would ever see any of them again but it had always been strange the way things turned out.

'My God. Could we have started on a more depressing, awkward subject of conversation?' Shalimar said. She saw him smirk, the same expression she had seen a thousand times before, some would call it cocky, she would always refer to it as confident. She sat down next to him, a plant pot all that separated them.

'But if we didn't talk about depressing things we would probably never talk,' he replied. The moment the words escaped his mouth he wanted to take them back. He hadn't meant it like that, not at all. When they had lived at Sanctuary no matter what had been going on with Genomex or Ashlocke or the Dominion they had always been happy. Maybe not true happiness but given their line of work and their fast disappearing friends that was something they would have to leave to the fairytales. He looked at her face. He could see she was trying to brush the comment off as a joke but she wasn't doing a very good job.

'Shal, I didn't mean it. I spoke before thinking. Looks like I haven't changed that much in four years huh?'

She smiled as she turned her head to look at him. 'No you haven't,' she replied, her smile growing.

'I take it that's not a bad thing,' he said.

'Definitely not. I like the old Brennan.'

'You've changed though.'

'You think?'

'A little. Maybe its the fact that you have a daughter now. You've become less fiery.'

'She's not yours.'

Brennan stared into Shalimar's eyes. He had been expecting that, or something along those lines. He wasn't sure what he was feeling. Some part of him was glad. He was so not ready for that kind of responsibility. But there was this huge part of him which wished that Taylor was his daughter. Maybe he wanted to gain a stronger link to Shalimar. They hadn't talked in so long that they had drifted apart and though he had a feeling that if they spent enough time together they could regain their old friendship the connection brought about by Taylor would have made it stronger, more stable.

'Blunt as ever.'

She hadn't really meant it to come out quite as briskly as it had. But she had wanted to assure him that on that score atleast there was nothing between them. Taylor wasn't his and she had figured that it was best that he knew it straight away. She didn't want them to tiptoe around the issue until all the tension built up and they were forced to talk about it all.

'I just wanted to clear that up. I don't want there to be any awkwardness between us.'

'I know,' he replied.

'You're not gonna rejoin are you?' he asked after a pause that ate away at both of them.

'I can't Brennan. Lexa and Jesse never got out of this world saving business thing. They've been doing it for the past four years. And I don't know about you but presumably, given your presence here right now you didn't have anything tying you down to your new life. I've got a daughter and she has to take priority.'

'I understand.'

This time the silence didn't feel imposing or oppressive. Neither of them had any inclination to break it. It was such a beautiful night on the most beautiful roof in the whole state of New York. The breeze was wafting the scents of flowers around them both and they sat there, not saying a word, stuck in the moment that they didn't want to get out of.

'So, why did you leave?'

She closed her eyes. She hadn't wanted him to ask that question because she didn't want to give him the answer. She remembered the day when she had woken up early and packed her bags. She remembered every single item of clothing, every tube and pot of make up, every piece of jewellry that she had placed in that bag. She had walked out quietly, taking one last tour of the place she had called home for so long. She had touched as much as she could, hoping that everything would leave an imprint on her memory, indelibly etched there for eternity. And it had worked. The layout of Sanctuary and every piece of furniture, every ornament, every chunk of rock had stayed with her. After she had walked around a few times she had looked in on her teammates. They had all been sound asleep, completely oblivious to her presence. She had watched as they breathed slowly in and out, each of them dreaming their own dreams. And then she had turned and walked out of the building, taking one of the cars. She hadn't left them a note. It was too cheesy Hollywood movie and she didn't want her leaving to be so completely cliched. But she hadn't had the guts to tell them to their faces. She knew it would be too hard and she couldn't have dealt with it.

'There's no one reason why I left. Everything that had happened over the years had built up I guess. All the fights had held this purpose when I first started. Me and Adam were trying to stop the evil forces of Genomex and the GSA,' she said, a joking tone coming to her voice as she talked about Mutant X's foes. 'But then we all started learning this stuff about him and us and them and the lines became blurred. I couldn't tell which side I was working for, especially with the appearance of the Dominion. I know that's a crappy excuse but I don't have a better one.'

Their eyes met again and everything faded away into nothing. Seconds turned into minutes and time ebbed away slowly, giving them the chance to reacquaint themselves with each others faces. They learned every curve, every wrinkle, every change in tone all by the light of the candles which lit up the roof in the nights sky.

Brennan frowned as Shalimar's eyes flashed golden. They glowed brighter than the tiny flames around them. She stood up and leant over the edge of the building. She looked down at the ground below and saw a man standing beside a car. He looked like he was waiting for something and after a minute of waiting she saw why. A man walked forward out of the building, the figure of a girl hanging over his shoulder. She knew without even seeing her face that it was Taylor. She growled low under her breath, a warning that they couldn't hear. Two other men followed the one with her daughter and they all made to get into the car.

'Taylor.' Her voice came out as something barely at the tone of a whisper. She felt like she couldn't breath, like the air was trapped inside her throat and her vision began to fade to black. Brennan saw her swaying and ran forward just in time to catch her from falling to the floor. He had seen all that she had seen, the men, the car and the girl. He couldn't believe quite how helpless he felt at that moment. Watching Shalimar's daughter taken away in a car while both he and Shalimar were useless, on top of a roof, trapped there. He lowered Shalimar to the floor by his feet and stood up quickly, drawing the familiar electricity into his hand, ready to shoot it out at the target of the car, just enough to get it to stop where it was. But when he looked again it was gone. And so was Taylor.

He stared at the road, unable to blink or move. He closed his hand into a fist and shut off the electricity, feeling it retract back into him. He heard a noise behind him and turned to see Shalimar. She was wide awake and standing. Her eyes showed her fury and she ran quickly towards the door. She hammered on it with her fists, occasionally aiming a hard kick at the metal. But nothing would make it budge. Brennan walked over to her. She was acting like someone possessed and he didn't know what to do. Instinct seemed to take over as he grabbed her wrists and turned her to face him. As soon as he made contact with her skin he felt her crumple to the floor. She dropped onto her knees, tears flowing freely down her face. She sobbed, the noise breaking into the silence. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him and felt her fragile figure shaking uncontrollably. He closed his eyes but quickly reopened them. All he could see in his head was him standing on the roof looking down at a situation he couldn't do anything to stop.

'Shalimar,' he whispered into her ear. She didn't acknowledge that he had said anything but the sobbing became less extreme and after a while she stopped moving altogether. The only sign that she was still alive was her breathing which Brennan could feel against his chest.

He slid his arms across her back and gripped her arms gently. He pulled her away from him so he could see her face. He had to know that she was okay, and he had to tell her that it wasn't her fault. So many questions were racing through his mind but he was worried about Jesse and Lexa. They had been in the apartment with Taylor and there was no way they would have given her up without a fight.

He stood up, gently pulling her up with him.

'Shalimar,' he said, louder but not much beyond an exhalation of breath.

She looked around her, her mind completely bewildered by everything that had just happened. She couldn't process it all but her brain was working feverishly to try and get a grip on some of it. She grabbed hold of Brennan's arms as it all built up, all the emotions she was feeling, all the thoughts she was thinking, all the what-ifs she was experiencing. The fact that Taylor was gone was just starting to sink in but what she could do about it was something which was beyond her.

'We need to get off this roof,' Brennan said, attempting to get Shalimar to open up out of herself.

She looked into his eyes for the first time since it had happened. At first she didn't seem to recognise him and he stared back at her, hating the emptiness present in her eyes. But gradually as she continued to stare a warmth appeared and she closed her eyes, leaning into Brennan's tall figure. He held her to him.

'I can't jump from this high up,' she said as she pulled away from him.

'I could try blasting the door down,' he suggested, knowing it was probably completely pointless.

'We need Jesse.'

* * *

He brushed the shards and splinters of wood from his hair as he pushed himself off the floor of Shalimar's apartment. He could feel the pain throbbing through his mind from the chair that had been smashed into his skull. It had happened pretty soon into the fight and everything had become black after that. He blinked his eyes hard, scrunching them up as he tried to regain his basic motor functions. He stood up and looked around him. The place was a mess. The people who had broken in had done a pretty good job on it. The couch was upturned, the stuffing from the cushions spilling out across the floor; the television screen was smashed, glass littering the floor around it; doors were hanging off their hinges, swinging in the breeze which drifted through a shattered window.

He turned quickly at a sound from behind him, in direction of the little girls bedroom. He readied himself for another fight but saw Lexa walking out of the room. She was limping, a bruise forming on her cheek as blood slid down her forehead. Her hair was unusually messy and her top was ripped. She looked at him and her bottom lip began to quiver uncontrollably. She shook her head before collapsing against the wall in tears, sobs racking her body. What was she going to tell Shalimar?

Jesse ran towards her, grabbing the sides of her face, rubbing his thumbs across her cheeks, wiping the tears away.

'It is not your fault,' he said, knowing the exact thoughts that were going through her head because they were going through his as well. He leant his forehead against hers, feeling the warmth which seemed to pulsate off of it.

'How are we going to tell her?' Lexa asked, her voice smaller than Jesse had ever heard it before.

'We're going to tell her that Taylor was taken by the people we want to take down, we're going to apologise and then we're going to promise to get her back.'

Lexa closed her eyes, overwhelming herself with darkness as she allowed herself to be guided by Jesse. She had always considered herself to be cool and calm and to some extent wise. She had always seemed, atleast to herself more experienced than Jesse and she had always considered that to be a good thing. But what she really loved about him was the way he made everything better with just one word, he saw the good in every situation and was passionate about making everyone else see it, or atleast fight for it.

She raised her hand to caress his cheek, feeling a welt growing on the skin from where the chair had hit him. She stroked the skin, loving the feel of day old stubble. She ran her hand up his face and through his hair, raising her eyes to look into his.

'We should get them off the roof.'


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry its taken so long to update. I'm suffering from glandular fever at the moment so have very little energy to do anything right now. Please take the time to review, and thank you to those of you who have reviewed already.

* * *

Jesse pushed the door open to a bar a couple of blocks away from Shalimar's apartment and stepped in, out of the warm breeze of the summer night air. He walked towards the bar and slumped into a bar stool. He looked just like any other customer, but none of them had just had the daughter of a friend kidnapped by an evil organisation which wanted to kill him and his friends. He smirked at how complex and unbelievable his life was. It hadn't always been this strange, but now he was working for the CIA with his girlfriend, a new mutant who could create the most fantastic light displays ever. His life was different from other people's lives, he thought to himself as he ordered a beer.

He turned around as Lexa walked through the door. She looked exhausted and weak and he had the distinct feeling that she needed to sleep more than anything. He loved when she was feeling vulnerable, mostly because he was the only one who ever saw her at those moments. They were private to him, and him alone and even though he loved strong women, always had he loved her even more when he knew she needed protecting. He smiled at her, catching her eye and she walked towards him. She stepped straight into his outstretched arms and stood there, relishing his warmth. She loved hugging Jesse, he always managed to fit her so perfectly, it was like they slotted together. Eventually she pulled away and ordered a beer. She needed the alcohol, the day had been too long and too hard.

'Any luck?' Lexa asked Jesse, getting down to business as she took a stool next to his.

'No. I talked to a couple of contacts but they've heard nothing. You?'

'Nothing. It looks like, for once the Dominion made an impetuous move.'

Their heads shot up in unison to look at the door as it opened. Brennan walked in. Jesse frowned as he saw Shalimar through the window. She was leaning against the glass and there was smoke rising from in front of her.

'I didn't know she smoked,' he said, as Brennan walked over to them.

'She only does when she's under extreme pressure,' he replied, citing her exact words. 'And right now seems like as good a time as any. She didn't want to come in, I think the night airs keeping her from breaking down too much so I didn't push it.'

'Probably a good idea. We don't wanna force her into doing anything she's not happy with,' Lexa said, knowing that she was completely unaware of the emotions going through Shalimar's mind at that moment.

They descended into silence after Brennan had ordered some drinks, all of them lost in their own personal moments. They didn't even hear the door of the bar open, or hear the sound of footsteps walking across the floor towards them. It was only when she reached them and cleared her throat that they noticed she was present.

'I'm in,' Shalimar stated, her voice flat and lifeless, not knowing if everyone was all caught up on what she was talking about, not really caring.

'What?' Jesse asked.

'This whole taking down the Dominion thing. I'm in.'

'Shal, maybe you should sleep on this, you know, think about it a little more,' Brennan said, after a short pause.

'Yeah, he's right. You're reacting to what happened by wanting to take action and we all understand that but maybe you should take the time to consider what it is you're signing on for,' Lexa said, placing her hand on Shalimar's arm.

She looked around at them. She appreciated their concern for her, it was almost like old times, with everyone trying to protect her in some way from something.

'If it'll make you happy I'll sleep on it. But my decision will be the same as it is now.'

'And that brings up another issue,' Brennan said. 'Where are we going to sleep?'

* * *

'Its a CIA safehouse, one that hasn't been in operation for a couple of years,' Jesse said as he turned the car onto Amsterdam Avenue. They had been driving for just a few minutes and he was trying to break the awkward, unwelcome silence which hung over everyone like a black cloud waiting to break. Lexa was currently bleeding from a head wound in the passenger seat, Brennan had given up trying to comfort Shalimar and was now sitting sullenly behind Jesse and Shalimar hadn't said a word since she had made her announcement regarding the taking apart of the Dominion. She was staring out of the window, her eyes not focused on anything. It worried him more than anything else. He had expected her to join the team again, to get her daughter back and to gain a little revenge for herself but the silence scared the hell out of him. Shalimar had always been the sort of person who verbalised her emotions, she had never been one to hide what she was feeling but now she wasn't talking to anyone, she was just getting more and more bogged down in whatever inner conflict was taking place inside of her head.

'Its got a couple of rooms,' Jesse continued, getting slightly more desperate in his quest to make the other people in the car say something. 'We should be able to stay there for atleast a few days until we work out what our next plan of action is.' He trailed off, accepting the quiet as a permanent fixture. He turned his head quickly as he felt the heat of Lexa's hand on his. He smiled at her, knowing that she understood him perfectly. He forced himself to look away from her as he turned back to the road in front of him. This time, atleast for him the silence wasn't awkward, it was something he shared with Lexa.

He turned the car right into West 69th Street and from there turned left into an underground car park. The dark, away from the harsh streetlights enveloped them. The occasional overhead lit up the contours of their faces. The car pulled to a stop as Jesse found a space and the engine cut out. It woke Shalimar out of her daydream. She hadn't been thinking about the reappearance of Mutant X or the Dominion, or even the sudden disappearance of Taylor. If she was being honest she hadn't been thinking about anything. She felt guilty about that but her mind had wandered onto different subjects of thought, ones that didn't require her to breakdown. She pushed the car door open and grabbed her bag which had been on the seat next to her before getting out. She looked around her, her eyes searching the farthest corners and crevices of the car park. She didn't sense anyone else in the near vicinity and she instinctually relaxed. She smiled weakly at how little she had changed since her Mutant X days. She had always been careful, even before Adam had picked her up, but at that moment in time she was more aware of everything, maybe even a little paranoid. She jumped at the sound of the three other car doors slamming in the silence. She had forgotten where she was. She shut her own door and waited for Lexa to take the lead. Shalimar followed, swinging her bag over her shoulder. She affected a tough girl demeanor but the complete lack of eye contact gave her away. She had always acted harder than she really was. In the beginning it had been a way of intimidating people who didn't think girls could kick ass but as things got harder and more secrets, deceptions were revealed she had used it to hide herself from the people who knew her.

Lexa reached the elevator and pushed the button with her index finger. Exhaustion was catching up with her but she forced her shoulders back. She figured everyone else was acting, why shouldn't she? When the elevator appeared she walked in, making her steps steady and even, not allowing her tiredness to show through. She leant casually against the wall but the feeling of something solid against her aching back was a relief to her. Jesse hit the button which would take them to the seventh floor. She had been in the apartment only once before but she knew that it was beautiful. It looked like a show home but that wasn't the part she loved. The fact that it was several different kinds of flashy didn't make a blind bit of difference to her. She only cared for the view. There were French windows leading off of the lounge and if they were opened and one were to walk out onto a balcony which looked out on West 69th Street they could look along the street to see Central Park, a slice of nature in a huge city; or they could look along the street in the other direction and they would catch glimpses of the Hudson. She loved that view, especially when the sun happened to be shining and glimmering off the water of the river. She smiled at the memory of it, her eyes lighting up at the thought of waking up to that picture.

Eventually the seventh floor was reached and they all trooped out of the elevator, along the corridor. Lexa stuck a key into the lock of the door leading to her dream apartment and pushed it open. She looked around her. She had remembered it exactly. Everything was in the same place, nothing had changed. She liked the thought that some things stayed the same despite a million and one external differences.

'There are two bedrooms, both with double beds,' she said, one of the problems she had anticipated presenting itself to everyone else.

'I'll take the sofa,' Brennan offered, dumping his bag on the floor as he looked around him. He was impressed, compared to his apartment this place was a palace.

'Okay, we'll see you guys in the morning,' Lexa said, looking pointedly at Jesse as she took his hand and led him through the apartment. Jesse was an intuitive guy but he still couldn't sense awkward moments like a woman.

An awkward silence reasserted itself, filling the air, making it thick and heavy. She walked forward towards the French windows. She unlocked them and pushed them open relishing the cool feel of the air as it hit her skin. She removed her jacket, dropping it over the back of a chair. She raised her head to look up above her. The atmosphere had been building throughout the day and she could feel a storm in the air. She breathed it in, enjoying the uncertainty and tension. She couldn't wait for it to break.

She turned around to face Brennan, leaning against the beam which separated her from the drop to the ground below. For the first time in a long time she made eye contact, staring into the brown eyes which had always made her feel comforted and content. She was amazed to find that they helped even at that moment. She could feel her mood calm itself and she became more mellow. He walked towards her, his jacket falling to the floor behind him as he shrugged it off. His jeans hung low on his hips and his t shirt showed off his physique. She subtly appreciated it, she had missed him in more ways than one. He leant against the beam next to her and raised his head to look up to the sky.

He felt the first drops of rain hit his face. They were cold and they cooled his blood which had been boiling ever since the attack. He turned towards Shalimar as she held her arms out to her sides. He could tell how much she was enjoying the rain. It gradually became harder, the downpour setting in. Her hair gradually became damper until it started dripping down her body. He watched her as, with closed eyes she turned her face to the sky. He stared at her for what felt like eternity. She was so beautiful. How he could have forgotten that he would never know. He ran his hand through his hair which was becoming flatter by the second as the rain plastered it to his head. He had forgotten how much trouble the feral could get him in.

She opened her eyes and looked at him, watching her. She moved towards him, wanting someone to hold her, wanting someone to make her feel like she belonged somewhere. Ever since she had left Mutant X she had felt detached, distant, separated from everything around her.

She reached her hand out to touch his cheek and he closed his eyes as he felt her skin against his. He had missed her touch more than she knew. He opened his eyes again and he raised his own hand to brush away a dripping strand of hair. He pushed it behind her ear. He left his hand where it was as they stared at each other. In unison they moved closer, their lips meeting as rain covered the city. They drank each other in, not knowing for how much longer they would have each other. Hands grabbed at skin and clothes and hair. Brennan lifted Shalimar and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her through the apartment into the second bedroom. They fell onto the bed, limbs tangling, clothes ripping in their desperation. As the downpour calmed itself into a heavy drizzle they fell asleep in each others arms.


	5. Chapter 5

I'm really sorry that its taken me so long to update. Computer trouble is my only excuse. That and university. And glandular fever. Anyway, I'm finally uploading chapter 5 so enjoy.

* * *

She rolled over onto her side, her hair falling across her face. She tucked it behind her ear as she stared at the clock on the bedside table. One of the hands ticked its way around the face, crossing numbers and the two remaining hands. She could faintly hear it through the early morning gloom. She was still tired. It was amazing that she could sleep for hours and hours and yet, nowadays she never seemed to stop being tired. It was like this permanent state of exhaustion had consumed her and bar putting herself into a coma she couldn't think of a single way to shake the feeling. She slid her feet out from underneath the covers and placed them onto the floor, only to draw them back up again. The floor was freezing against her warm skin and she wrinkled her brow at the sudden change in climate. She placed her feet on the floor again, soaking in the cold, acclimatising herself to her new atmosphere.

It was six o'clock, a time she would normally never have considered getting up at. But, what with everything else that was going on she had found it difficult to drift off, even in his arms. Normally she could sleep without a problem, it was the getting up part that was slightly trickier. But her sleep pattern had been thrown off by recent events. She stood up and picked up a hooded sweater from the chair in the corner of the room. She wrapped it around her shoulders and walked silently through the door, trying not to disturb the still sleeping man.

She walked through the corridors of the apartment. It was deceptively large and she would definitely have lived there if she could have chosen to have a normal life. But she was stuck in the one she had, not that the fact bothered her.

She made her way into the lounge and walked past the bag that Brennan had dropped there the night before. As she looked towards the open French windows she took in the fact that he wasn't asleep on the couch. She smiled, knowing exactly where he would be at that moment in time. It would obviously muddy the waters surrounding the case but the happiness of her friends mattered slightly more than that. She walked towards the windows, feeling the early morning air. She pulled the sweater tighter around her, trying to shut the cold out, regretting that she hadn't thought to put any socks on.

She saw the blonde woman. She was leaning against the beam which went around the balcony, coffee mug in hand, head turned away from Lexa, towards the Hudson view. The sun hadn't yet risen and the sky still held that sense of mystery over what kind of day it was holding. Lexa wasn't an early riser, never had been but she loved the dawn. It was the kind of thing she imagined fitting with a night out, going from club to club, dancing and drinking and laughing. In her younger, less responsible days she would have done just that, spent her nights away from home. When she got back it would be five, maybe five-thirty and she would sit watching the sun rise through the sky. It was peaceful, with a whole day still to come, and she loved that feeling.

'Hey,' she said quietly, reluctant to break the silence.

'Hi,' Shalimar replied. She had been aware of Lexa's presence for a while, but had been enjoying the dawn all to herself.

Lexa walked out onto the balcony, once again regretting the lack of anything to cover her feet. She looked down at Shalimar's and saw for the first time that she was dressed. She was wearing boots, jeans and a strappy top.

'Please tell me you haven't been out already,' she said.

'Feral genes. I can't help it.'

Lexa smiled. Shalimar had to put up with a lot from her feral DNA but she always seemed to relish it rather than anything else. The acute sense of smell, something Lexa could have done without was something that didn't seem to bother Shalimar; seeing absolutely everything didn't ever seem to phase her; and the early morning late night routine was a factor that didn't wear on her. Lexa had always, even when they first met been impressed by what Shalimar could do.

'Are you sure its not something else?'

Shalimar turned to look at the brunette. She looked drained and it was only then that she realised what everyone else had been through. Over the past four years Shalimar had had to deal with having a daughter by herself but she had never even considered how much crap Jesse and Lexa had gone through. They had handled the Dominion for four whole years without any help from the rest of the Mutant X team and it had been Shalimar's fault that the team had fallen apart anyway.

'I'm worried about her,' Shalimar replied, answering Lexa's question after a lengthy pause.

Lexa opened her mouth to speak but stopped. She wanted to ask the question more than anything else, she needed to know the answer but she was aware of Shalimar's fragile state. She wasn't entirely sure if the feral could confront what Lexa was forcing her to at that moment.

'Who's the father?' She noticed Shalimar fidget slightly with the rim of the coffee cup, running her finger along the edge. 'The only reason I'm asking is that when the Dominion agents came last night to take Taylor away she fought back. She used her feral abilities to struggle a bit but then she electrocuted one of them. Now, last night when we got back here I convinced myself that it was the concussion filling in the blanks for me but now I'm not so sure. So I guess what I'm really asking you is how probable it is that in the few months since you left Mutant X and Sanctuary that you found another electrical elemental and slept with him.' Lexa finished in a rush, slightly gasping for breath. She hadn't meant for it all to come out like that, she had wanted to ease Shalimar into the question but Lexa had never been one to dodge an issue, she was always straight up about her intentions and her thoughts.

Shalimar closed her eyes. She felt the sun burst over the edge of the world in a haze of colour and light and heat. She could see the brightness through her eyelids and she focused on it until bright spots of multicolour appeared in front of her eyes. She opened them and looked around, squinting slightly in the new atmosphere.

'In answer to your actual question, Brennan's the father of Taylor. I know you knew that already so I'll continue straight onto the reason why I didn't tell any of you let alone him. I was terrified. Taylor was, for lack of a better, less crude phrase, an accident. It wasn't like we had planned to have a baby. Me and Brennan were in love but that didn't automatically make us parent material.'

'Then why leave and not be parent material without his support?'

'Because I knew that when faced with being a mother or letting Taylor fend for herself that I would have to do the former. I'm feral, I knew that the maternal thing would kick in whether or not I wanted it to. And I also knew that Brennan would love Taylor with all his heart, but I couldn't be sure that he would love her for her. I didn't want him to feel obligated.'

Lexa stared at Shalimar as she breathed deeply. She had no idea what Shalimar had been going through over the past few years and she had a feeling that she wouldn't have been able to handle it all were she in the same position. Her reasons may have seemed a little weak and patchy four years later but Lexa had every confidence in a lack of perspective driving people to do certain things. She had been motivated by an instantaneous reaction many times and she could not only sympathise with Shalimar, she could empathise.

'So, are you going to tell him?' Lexa asked.

That was the stumper, it was the one question Shalimar couldn't possibly have answered. She knew that there were benefits to telling him, the main one being that he deserved to know. But she couldn't face it, not after everything that had happened. She already knew that she would tell him, it wasn't like she could ever keep the important stuff from him but she was willing to delay that moment until it became inevitable.

'Will you let me do it in my own time?' she asked, turning away from the view and leaning her back against the beam.

'Yeah,' Lexa replied. She was going to give Shalimar all the time she needed. She had to admit that she often chose to become involved in other people's issues but she knew when to back off. This was one issue she couldn't intrude on.

They both stood on the balcony, waiting for the rest of the world to wake up. It gradually did, people getting out of bed, getting into their cars, driving off to their regular jobs. And Lexa and Shalimar stood there, waiting for the only two important men in their lives to wake up.

* * *

'Where are we going?' Brennan asked as he stepped into the elevator behind Shaliamr, in front of Jesse and Lexa.

'The New York CIA headquarters. They have resources that Mutant X could only dream of so we're gonna hit them up for all they know about the kidnapping,' Lexa replied. She had woken up sufficiently enough to act businesslike even if the veneer was wearing somewhat thin.

Jesse watched her, his eyes observant as always. She assumed that he didn't see everything about her but she was wrong. He saw the different moods she went through. She constantly put up a facade which made her seem so very black and white; but Jesse knew she was so much more than that, she was seen in technicolour only by him. And right at that moment he could tell that she was tired, not just physically but drained of her spirit that had been so effervescent to him before. It was still there but after seeing everything that Shalimar was going through she was drained of the passion that used to define who she was. He hated to see her like that but he was helpless to do anything about it.

As they reached the underground car park Jesse held Lexa back, handing Brennan the car keys with the other hand. He had to make sure that she was okay, had to make sure that she was going to be okay for the rest of the day until it was over and she could sleep again.

'You holding up alright?' he asked, trying, not very successfully to not sound patronising.

She smiled, happy that he cared enough to ask.

'I'm fine, just a little worn out.'

She rolled her eyes as he continued to study her. She knew he didn't believe her but she couldn't think of anything else to say that would convince him that she wasn't doing as badly as she looked. She made to walk away but he held her back again, pulling her into a hug, that she hadn't realised she desperately needed. She felt his body against hers, his heartbeat against her temple as she rested her head on his chest, she felt his arms wrapped around her back. She let her strength wash away from her as she gave herself up to him. All the emotions she had managed to keep in check for the past few hours finally succeeded in overwhelming her and she scrunched her eyes up, feeling warm tears spill onto her cheeks. Her body stayed perfectly still but he knew and she loved that he did. He always knew. And she always loved it.

* * *

Shalimar leant against the car, watching the scene between Lexa and Jesse play itself out. She smiled as she saw them. She didn't know quite how she had never realised how perfect they were for each other. Jesse was the only person Lexa would ever truly open up to. It was ironic, she had been the one who had never trusted anyone and she now took the greatest pleasure in a man who trusted everyone.

Shalimar ran her hand through her hair. She couldn't seem to stop thinking about the previous night. Sleeping with Brennan had never been part of the plan. She hadn't wanted to bring up those kinds of emotions all over again, especially not at a time when she needed to stay focused. But the weather seemed to have unleashed her vulnerable side and she had needed to find some sort of comfort in someone else. She hadn't said anything specific to him since he woke up but she had a feeling that that conversation was going to happen now that they were alone.

She heard him unlock the car and climb into the drivers seat and she followed suit, wanting to leave Jesse and Lexa to their own private moment. She leaned back against the leather seat and stared out aimlessly at the concrete wall in front of her. She could just about see her reflection in the windscreen. She was pale and the bags under her eyes showed up like the lights of Las Vegas.

'Shal?' Brennan asked, quietly, hesitantly. He wasn't entirely sure how to start a conversation with her other than 'So, we slept together last night?' Their relationship was difficult and convoluted enough without them having sex. Not that he regretted it at all. It had been incredible. It wasn't like he had been celibate for four years but sleeping with Shalimar had been amazing. He had missed her in so many ways, not all of them completely innocent. But it had unleashed all kinds of emotions that hadn't surfaced in quite some time. And he wasn't sure how he could verbalise them.

'Yeah,' she replied, not turning towards him. It had been a while. Having a daughter hardly aided her sex life and she had been somewhat thrown back into the deep end with Brennan.

'We should probably talk about last night,' Brennan replied. He was still unsure if this was really the right moment. It seemed wrong somehow to be talking about their relationship or lack of one in a car in an underground car park with Jesse and Lexa just a few feet away. It wasn't serious enough somehow.

'Yeah,' she mumbled.

'Shal,' he said, sounding more sure of himself as he reached out and grabbed hold of her hand.

She turned around and looked straight into his eyes. Neither of them blinked and time stood still. The setting didn't matter, the noises and smells around them ceased to matter and they were lost in each other.

Eventually Shalimar blinked and looked back into his eyes.

'I don't regret it,' she said.

Brennan breathed out slowly and quietly in relief. He had been so worried that she would hate him for taking advantage of her. He felt almost guilty about it all, like he had been the one who had pushed her into something she didn't want to do. She had been vulnerable.

'And I chose to sleep with you so please don't think you've hurt me in some way,' she continued, almost as if she had read his mind. The corners of his mouth lifted and he raised his eyebrows.

'You always could read me,' he said, his head cocked to one side.

'Its not that difficult Brennan,' she replied, undertones of condescension showing through.

'Hey,' he replied, faking indignance.

She smiled, the first genuine one he had seen in some time. Her head dropped and she looked at the floor of the car. He reached out his hand and, placing his fingers under her chin lifted her head so that she was looking into his eyes again. He leaned forward slowly, his breathing became imperceptibly quicker and he could feel his heart rate fasten. Within seconds it was racing inside his chest.

Shalimar closed her eyes as she felt his warm breath brush across her lips. She reached her hand up and placed it on his cheek, feeling the rough stubble under her fingertips. She stroked her hand across the skin, warmth radiating into her skin from his.

She didn't even notice the screeching of the car wheels as the vehicle drove across the car park towards them. The noise didn't even hit her ears. It was only when the bright white headlights flashed across the back windscreen of the car that she turned her head to look towards the source of all the noise and light. Her eyes glowed in the relative gloom of the car and she heard the noise of a window winding down and a series of clicks.

'Get down,' she said, her tone dangerous and low. Brennan stared at her, a frown marring his face. Shalimar looked up at him as she heard the car stop behind them. She grabbed the back of his head and pulled him down as she dropped to the floor in front of her seat.

The bullets ripped through the metal, shattering the glass, tearing the seat lining. The noise was deafening and Shalimar squeezed her eyes shut to try and block out everything. She didn't want to die. There were so many things she had to do, least of all get Taylor back and have an actual conversation with Brennan.

Brennan breathed deeply, trying to control his own heart rate. If it had been racing before now it was speeding away, threatening to burst straight out of his chest and get caught up in the streams of gun fire. There was no way he could form a tesla coil and throw it at the car behind them, he wouldn't have enough time and he would have to be able to see where he was aiming. And getting out of the car would definitely not do him or Shalimar any good. He looked over at her. Her blonde hair covered most of her face as she kept her head down but he could see her eyes. They were shut so tightly he would probably have to pry them open once the whole ordeal was finished. Her hand was still holding onto his hair and the slight twinges of pain as her grasp became tighter kept him grounded in reality.

Suddenly the bullets stopped flying. The sharp bangs of noise stopped and Brennan raised his head slightly. He ducked it down a few seconds later when a huge booming noise replaced the previous sounds as the car behind them exploded. Flames licked around the car and he could feel the heat through his leather jacket. He looked up and watched as colour spread through the black and grey interior of the car. The oranges and yellows and reds spread across the ceiling, silently moving across the material, consuming it all. He looked across at Shalimar who had been watching the fire progress along with him. They stared at each other before reaching behind them in unison and shoving their respective car doors open. They both fell out onto the ground of the parking lot, coughing and choking from the black smoke they had inhaled. Brennan pushed himself up from the ground, looking around him to make sure that none of the guys who had been attempting to shoot them were still around. He assumed, correctly that they had all been incinerated in the blast of their own vehicle but once he had checked that nobody was pointing a gun at him his main concern was getting Shalimar and himself away from their car. He ran around the front of the vehicle and came face to face with her. Her eyes were wide and blood shot from all the smoke and she looked pale in sharp contrast with the dark brown smudges smeared across her cheeks and forehead. He grabbed her by the hand and ran, neatly avoiding the flames and the heat. They both ran the length of the car park, eventually locating Lexa and Jesse who, having caused the explosion had hid behind a land rover to shield themselves. Shalimar and Brennan would have been touched by the expressions of fear and relief on their faces but the sounds of sirens were drawing closer and if they were to have any hope of getting Taylor back and bringing down the Dominion they would have to find another car and the CIA.

Brennan opened the palm of his hand and it filled with sparks, flickering and jumping across his skin. He directed a small arc at the land rover and heard the click of the locks as the car opened. They all pulled open a door and slid onto the seats. Brennan revved the car before the last door was closed and within seconds they were speeding out of the exit as police cars and bomb squads zoomed in through the entrance.


	6. Chapter 6

I hope everyone had a really happy Christmas. I just got back from seeing my mothers side of the family and will be doing my fathers side tomorrow so am updating now for everybody who wants to read over the holidays. Have a great new year and I will try and update as soon as possible. Thanks for the reviews (Viviana, I love that you love the Shal/Brennan thing. As a huge fan of that couple its good to hear that I'm doing something right) and Love Conquers, I promise I will write something soon. And thanks for the picture of Petey…adorable.

* * *

Lexa walked into the clothes store. She made her way through the racks of clothing, occasionally stopping to study a particular item. She fingered a camisole top. It wasn't really her style but protocol determined that she had to look at something. It was important so that none of them would be prematurely caught. The morning had already been too difficult without having to help the CIA move its New York headquarters. She looked to one side. Shalimar was absent mindedly holding a hanger with a pair of jeans hanging from them. She had tried her best to remove the smears of dirt from her face but she hadn't managed to do a very good job. Now her face was a mixture of shadows, smudges and red blotches from where she had scrubbed at it with her hand. From where Lexa stood she looked like she was completely out of it but Lexa knew Shaliamr better than that. The feral was as alert as ever. She was listening to the positions of her teammates, making sure that she knew where they were at all times.

Lexa moved her head to the other side and saw Brennan and Jesse, both of them tired and drained of all colour. They had parked the stolen car around the corner from the store, down an alley behind some huge bins. They had then proceeded to split up and enter the shop separately. Lexa caught Jesse's eye and signalled that he wait a few moments while she and Shalimar made their way towards the fitting rooms. She began walking forwards and, making sure that Shaliamr had picked up on the movement began walking faster. She didn't really have time for procedures and regulations and she felt like all they were doing was wasting time, time that would have been better spent searching for Taylor.

She walked through the cloud of perfume which surrounded the make up counters in the centre of the store. She wrinkled her nose as she continued moving. There were so many things that seemed so trivial. Shopping was something she used to take pleasure in. It was an activity that used to, atleast for a short while make her feel happy, as shallow as that might have sounded. But then things had become serious and she had learnt to care a little less about the frivolous aspects of life and had started to take pleasure in the more important things, like still being alive at the end of the day or getting to curl up in bed with a good book, a glass of wine and Jesse's shoulder for her head to rest against.

She walked into the fitting area, some of the curtained cubicles containing squealing girls as they found the perfect dress for a first date, or middle aged women finding an outfit that made them look a little younger than their years. She made her way towards a cubicle at the end of the row and pulled back the curtain. It was off limits to regular customers but she wasn't a regular customer and she leaned against the flimsy wall as she waited for Shalimar to appear in front of her.

Eventually she heard purposeful footsteps and the blonde was standing in front of her. She looked a little bemused and raised her eyebrows at Lexa.

'Now what?' she asked.

'Now we make like Alice and go through the looking glass,' Lexa replied as she pressed her hand against the wall next to the mirror. A faint green light shone and a click sounded, perceptible only to Shalimar. The mirror silently slid across and a long white corridor appeared, a door at the opposite end of it.

Shalimar attempted to appear unimpressed by sudden developments and it wasn't too difficult. She had seen enough in her life to accept a lot of things that seemed impossible but she had to admit, the CIA had done a pretty good job with the whole secret thing. She walked through first, the white slightly blinding as it hit her eyes full on. She heard Lexa follow her and the mirror slide back into place. There was nothing in the room except four cameras, one in each top corner of the hallway. After a pause of a few seconds a door clicked open at the other end of the hallway and Lexa walked past Shalimar and through it. Shalimar followed, the white room a little intimidating as rooms went.

The noise and bustle of the room beyond suprised her. She hadn't been expecting such a busy operation. It was weird that, given the fact she had worked in a secret team with secret abilities for years that she hadn't comprehended that there might be other secret teams who were equally invisible.

She turned around as she saw Jesse and Brennan walk in behind her, the door closing silently behind them. Her eyes met Brennan's gaze head on and the corners of their mouths rose slightly as they acknowledged the bizarre situation they had entered into. They both watched as Lexa and Jesse greeted people and handed out orders, commands coming their way just as often. Everyone seemed to have some kind of purpose and Brennan and Shalimar felt a little superfluous, like they couldn't do anything.

After a few minutes Brennan took Shalimar's hand and guided her towards the quietest corner of the room, the one which didn't contain a computer or a phone or an agent. She leant against the wall sideways, her face turned up towards his. After everything that had happened she couldn't afford to not confront him. Everything that was going on was so difficult to comprehend and if she needed the support of anyone at anytime this was it. It would have been the perfect moment to tell Brennan about Taylor but she was still too nervous for that revelation.

His fingers entwined with hers as he moved closer to her, blocking her from the rest of the room. Noise faded away, they were the only two people in the room, in the world at that moment in time.

'I think we got interrupted,' he said huskily, trying not to sound too much like he was seducing her.

She smiled in reply, her eyes crinkling in amusement at his attempt at a come on. 'I think we did,' she replied, her hand reaching out to his chest, her fingers drawing patterns on his top, muscles tensing beneath the material.

He lowered his head slowly until it was centimetres away from her face. She closed her eyes and lifted her head, decreasing the distance between them even further. She felt his lips touch hers, gently, lightly and then draw away as quickly. A shiver travelled up her spine and then moved back down again as she reached her hand to touch his cheek. Encouraged by her willingness to connect with him he leant his head again, this time capturing her lips in a kiss which made their hearts jump into their throats. Their breathing increased in pace as they pulled each other closer, the warmth comforting them on so many levels.

'Guys.'

They pulled apart abruptly, both of them smiling wryly at another interruption. Brennan turned and they both came face to face with Lexa. Jesse was standing a few feet behind her, his face showing how happy he was with the newest turn of events. Lexa however was all business and guilt hit Shaliamr with the force of an eighteen wheeler truck. She had completely forgotten about Taylor in everything that had happened. Her own daughter was missing, kidnapped by Dominion operatives and she was making out with the father who didn't, as yet know he was the father. Her life couldn't have been anymore like a soap opera if she was a post op transvestite who was sleeping with her cousin whilst plotting to blow up her entire brother for his oil fortune. She walked forward, eager to hear any information Lexa had with regards to the whereabouts of Taylor, but reluctant to hear anything in case it was bad news.

'We have a location. Its an apartment building in Woburn, just outside of Boston.'

'They took Taylor to Boston,' Brennan replied unbelievingly.

'The Dominion knows about our connection to the CIA. They also know that the city will be crawling with agents looking for Taylor so they took her out of town.'

'So, when are we going to get her?' Shalimar asked, her impatience becoming more obvious.

'Shalimar, we're not even sure that this is the right place. It could be a trap-'

'Well then we walk in with our eyes open. I'm not leaving Taylor with the Dominion longer than I have to,' Shalimar said, her voice rising as panic set in.

'Shal,' Brennan said, quietly as he took her hand in his own, squeezing it in reassurement.

She looked up into his eyes. They were a calming influence. 'So what do we do?' she said.

'The Dominion will make demands. We're not sure when but until they do we can't make a move, not without risking Taylor's life.'

* * *

Shalimar leant her forearms against the window sill in front of her. She had needed some air, all the movement inside the CIA headquarters was a little overwhelming and when asked where she could go she was led to a window on the first floor. They were unwilling to let her out of their sight let alone out of the building. She pulled the packet of cigarettes out of her jacket pocket and stuck one in her mouth. She heard the scratching noise and the rush of gas as she lit the lighter. The flame danced in the vague breeze which made its way through the opening. The weather had changed, as it tended to do in New York. The sun was still shining brightly in the sky but there was a chill in the air and Shaliamr could feel goosebumps popping up on her skin. She breathed in the smoke filling her lungs. She hated that she smoked, it wasn't something she had planned to do but what with her intense temper she figured in times of difficulty she needed something to do with her hands. If she didn't have a distraction she would probably have been banged up in jail a long time ago on assault charges, especially working in the bar she did.

She felt him come up behind her, his presence making her legs turn to jelly. He had always been able to do that and it had been all she could do to stop herself from falling over everytime he looked at her with that smouldering gaze that he had mastered over the years.

'Hey,' she said, letting threads of smoke rise from her mouth.

'Its a nasty habit.'

She raised her eyebrows and smirked. 'I didn't think I was going to get a lecture.'

'You're not, I'm just pointing out what you already know,' he replied, leaning against the window sill next to her.

She stared at the smoking stick in her hand and smiled wryly. She didn't need something to do with her hands to stop her from getting angry anymore, she needed to get angry, she needed someone to punch. She checked the street below for people and, when she saw none threw the cigarette onto the ground. It bounced, leaving a trail of sparks before dying.

'That's my girl,' Brennan said, wrapping one arm around Shalimar's shoulders. She leaned into him, feeling the strength of his body against hers. She knew the banter between them would have to stop eventually but she wasn't ready for that to happen. She didn't want to have a serious conversation with him, not at that moment, especially not given what she had done and what she was going to do.

'You're going after her, aren't you?' he asked, his voice echoing in the silence.

She moved away from him and looked straight into his eyes. How did he always know what she was thinking?

Her silence gave him the assent he needed.

'You know the CIA are doing their best, Lexa and Jesse are doing their best.'

'I can't stay here and wait for the Dominion to make their demands, you've worked with me long enough to know that I'm not a patient person. I have to do something Brennan, so please, don't try and stop me.'

He nodded slowly, mulling things over in his head.

'We should probably go then,' he said.

'What?'

'If we're going to get to Boston anytime soon we should probably leave now.'

As he said it he held up a piece of paper with an address written on it. In his other hand were the keys to the car and he jingled them, waiting for her response. He wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing but he couldn't sit around either and he knew that if he didn't go with her, she would go alone.


	7. Chapter 7

I'm sorry its taken so long. I just got back to university so everythings been a bit hectic in recent days. I have almost finished writing this story so its just a case of uploading numerous chapters. Hopefully I'll be updating a little more regularly than I have previously. Thanks for bearing with me. And thank you for the reviews.

* * *

The car peeled away from the curb and into the traffic. It was a busy time in New York City at four in the afternoon. The morning had gone quickly what with all the shooting and explosions and walking through mirrors into secret headquarters of an intelligence agency. Car horns beeped at bicycle couriers as they risked their lives threading their way in and out of the lines of stock still vehicles. The heat hadn't returned but everyone seemed to be getting a little hot and bothered from being stuck where they were for so long. Brennan and Shalimar were no exception.

Brennan ran his hand through his hair messing it up even more. Shalimar wanted to smooth it back so it didn't form quite so many giant spikes. Instead she raised the cup of coffee in its insulated cardboard container to her lips. They had just stopped off at one of the many Starbucks stores in New York before properly setting out for Boston. They were going to get to the city first and then travel onto Woburn after working out some kind of plan. They were hardly the most organised members of the team, their disappearance from the building behind the department store showed that. They had gone back down to the main room, where Lexa and Jesse were still doing their CIA operative thing. Brennan had the precise address but they wanted to leave a note behind, letting Lexa and Jesse know where they were and that they were okay and what they were doing. It was a crappy way to leave, they both knew that but they didn't realistically have any other choice. Shalimar had to leave, had to find her daughter and Brennan had to go with her. Shalimar had left the note in the pocket of Lexa's jacket which was thrown over the back of a chair. And they had gone. They had walked back up to the window that Shalimar had earlier been blowing smoke rings out of and, after a little trouble opening it fully had both jumped to the ground below. Minutes later Brennan had been steering the car out of the back road and into the main streets already filling with cars and taxis and trucks as everybody tried to get home first.

Brennan had made his way to Shalimar's apartment and they had entered. It was still a mess, furniture overturned, breakables smashed, glass shards ground into the carpet. She had quickly gathered some clothes and shoved them into a bag. They didn't expect to be gone long but some of the things were for Taylor.

Shalimar had wandered into the bathroom. It was the only untouched room in the entire apartment and she had splashed water into her face, rubbing off the marks of dirt. She had stared at her own face in the mirror in front of her, her chin still dripping with water, her eyes boring into their own reflection. How could everything have changed in so little a space of time? The morning before she had been happily taking her daughter to a friend so she could go to work. Now, in such a short space of time her life had been turned upside down and she was right back to square one. She had spent so long trying to distance herself from the memories of Mutant X, trying to convince herself that it wasn't where she belonged. She was living a normal life, doing the things she thought she would never get a chance to do in her previously upside down world. But she had missed always looking at things in a different way to regular people, she had missed being the wrong way up. She had lived in her topsy turvy life for so long that she had become accustomed to it and now it seemed like everything else was weird.

She had walked out of the room and through her wreck of a house. She hated to admit it to herself but she wasn't going to miss it. A normal life was all very well but what if it wasn't for you? What if you were meant to do extraordinary things that only ever happened in the movies? What if your life was supposed to be a little different?

They had got back into the car and Brennan had sat in traffic for a little while longer before they both realised they hadn't eaten anything in a long time. In everything that had happened the night before none of them had been feeling all that hungry before they went to bed, Shalimar had been hit by waves of nauseous that warned her off consuming anything. And that morning they had discovered there wasn't a single bit of food to be found in the apartment. Then they had left and been shot at and after all of that food had kinda disappeared from their minds. Brennan had pulled over to the Starbucks and Shalimar had arrived back five minutes later bearing the kinds of goodies that he would have paid millions for at that moment in time.

Shalimar looked over at Brennan again. He was getting increasingly frustrated with the complete lack of movement up ahead of them.

'There must have been some kind of accident,' he said, almost to himself to try and rationalise all the obstacles between them and Boston.

'Nope,' Shalimar replied, sounding as cheerful as she was going to get given the current situation. 'This is what its always like. There's a reason why I didn't buy a car in four years.'

Brennan chuckled to himself before winding down the electric window. He had to admit that he wasn't all that uncomfortable. The car that he had stolen from the car park was a nice vehicle and he had a feeling that he was going to have a good time driving it along a freeway. He just didn't like being stuck in one place for too long especially not given the urgency of their mission.

Shalimar, sensing that Brennan needed something to do with his hands which were tapping out random beats and riffs on the steering wheel reached behind her to the back seat and pulled the Starbucks bag into the front. She had brought numerous items of food, including lollipops which she didn't expect Brennan to start sucking on but which she was prepared to enjoy.

She pulled out a croissant and held it out in his direction while she looked for the lemon flavoured sweet. Brennan looked across at her and smirked at her offering.

'I didn't think you'd want to take up smoking,' she replied and smiled as she heard his loud laughter fill the car. It had been a long time since she had seen him look quite so happy and since she had heard that laugh, the boisterous one that shook his entire body and made the corners of his eyes crinkle into a thousand minuscule wrinkles.

'I miss this,' he said once he had managed to stop his laughter. He ripped off a piece of the pastry, crumbs scattering everywhere and shoved it into his mouth. A slight groan became audible in the back of his throat as he realised how very hungry he really was.

'I know what you mean,' Shalimar replied, placing the lollipop on her tongue and closing her mouth around it. She let go of the small white stick and pushed the button to open her window a crack. It was getting hot in the car in sharp contrast to the chill outside. She leant her head to one side and closed her eyes. She liked driving in cars with Brennan, always had. He was never really lost for words and their similarities allowed them to enjoy such small spaces with each other. He liked the same kind of music as her and as she thought about it she turned on the radio. Blasting music filled the car and Brennan and Shalimar grimaced in unison.

'The Backstreet Boys!' Brennan said, disgust evident in his tone as Shalimar turned the volume down and began fiddling with the stations. She eventually found something worth listening to and leaned back in her seat.

'Must be a chicks car,' Brennan said.

'Hey, who just tuned the radio to the Killers,' Shalimar replied as she leaned across and whacked Brennan's arm with her hand.

'Alright, but you're an exception,' he relented, sighing deeply as the cars in front of him moved on a couple of feet.

'Think we're ever going to make it out of New York City?' Shalimar asked, looking around her for any way out of the traffic. She sighed as she saw nothing. The road was going to be pretty blocked for at least the next half hours worth of driving.

'Yeah,' he said, turning towards her. They may simply have been talking about something as trivial as rush hour in New York but he knew that there were layers to what Shalimar was asking. She wanted to know how long it would take to get to Boston and he had to reassure her that they would get there sooner rather than later.

Their eyes met and in no time at all their lips had met too. It was like they were caught in a vacuum where nothing, not even oxygen could affect them. Shalimar felt his strong body pressed against hers and she ran her hands through his hair. His hands ran across her back making her skin tingle. Her lips against his, their skin touching felt so perfect

They visibly jumped as a chorus of car horns went off behind them. They turned back to the road still holding each other and saw that there was practically nothing in front of them anymore. Shalimar smiled wryly to herself as Brennan sat back in his seat and the car moved on.

'The real world strikes again, huh?'

* * *

'Jesse,' Lexa called out as she strode across the room towards him. Her face held hidden depths but her voice was urgent, on the point of panicking. 'I need to talk to you,' she said pointedly as she reached him before unceremoniously grabbing his hand and pulling him away from the computer terminal he had been working at into a separate room, one with a lot less people.

'You probably shouldn't do that too much, people might start to think you're the boss in this relationship,' he said with a smirk.

She raised her eyebrows, her eyes glinting.

'Okay, so you are the boss but that doesn't mean I want everyone to know about it.'

Lexa held up a small piece of paper. 'They're gone,' she said.

'Who's gone?' he asked.

'Brennan and Shalimar are gone,' she reiterated, speaking a little slower as if she were talking to a ten year old. Jesse glared at her before taking the note and reading it for himself. He had known that she would leave and he had known that he would go with her. It had been inevitable from the beginning and as happy as he was that two of his best friends were finally on speaking terms again he was terrified for them. They had no idea what a huge mess they were getting into. Lexa and Jesse had been fighting constantly for the past four years to try and take apart Dominion contacts and other branches of that organisation. It had been tougher than anything he had ever done with Mutant X, he was exhausted as was Lexa. Brennan and Shalimar were going into a situation completely unprepared and they could be risking Taylor's life with it.

'We need to get there before them,' he said, crumpling the scrap of paper in his fist.

'They took the car so we can assume that they haven't got much of headstart on us.' Seeing Jesse's frown and downcast face she raised his chin, placing a soft kiss on his lips. 'We'll get there first,' she said, promising things with her eyes that they both knew she couldn't necessarily give.

* * *

Brennan looked across at Shalimar. She had been staring out of the car window for a few hours and he was beginning to wonder if she would ever open her mouth. She had withdrawn into herself ever since they had left the city but instead of sleeping or resting she seemed to be worrying about possible future events. The fact that she wasn't speaking to him about any of it was what worried him most. She was ordinarily so verbal with her emotions or she at least let everyone know what she thought via the medium of body language. He hadn't allowed himself to think about what would happen, he needed to stay calm and strong for Shalimar, he couldn't afford to start working his way through every possible conclusion to this scenario.

The sky was gradually darkening through the window and Shalimar watched it with interest. It was still cold but the sun was shining brightly across the pale blue sky, through the occasional strip of clouds that slowly meandered across the great expanse above her. It would be setting soon and Shalimar could feel her senses becoming more alive, more attuned to her surroundings.

She could almost sense Taylor, her scent, her own individual smell. It burned inside Shalimar's nose and she ached for the girl she couldn't see. She could sense her presence even though there were miles between them. Shalimar could tell they were getting closer. Her face remained as still as it had been for hours, the occasionally blink doing nothing to break the stony facade Shalimar had applied but inside she wanted to scream and run. The car wasn't moving fast enough for her but she had reached a state of calm, one where she could successfully co-exist with everything that seemed to be conspiring against her to stop her from going any further.

They had been sitting in silence, not uncomfortably, without the radio. All of the songs that had been playing seemed to have such trivial messages, they had only served to piss both of them off. But now Shalimar reached across and pushed the button in. The sounds of Orange Sky filled the car, and Brennan looked across at her again, taking his eyes away from the road for a few seconds.

'I'm okay, Brennan,' she said, without even needing to know the question.

'Well, then you'll have to forgive me if that seems like a brush off at the moment,' he replied, turning his weary eyes back to the road in front of him.

'Pull over,' she said.

'What?' he replied.

'Pull over, you're tired,' she answered.

He opened his mouth to argue before realising that there was no point. Shalimar was stubborn and pig headed and she had got an idea into her head which meant she wasn't going to give up.

He steered the car over to the side of the freeway. There were practically no other cars around, their lights occasionally illuminating the fields which lay beyond the road. When the cars had passed the world was once again returned to darkness.

Shalimar pushed open the car door and got out, stretching her legs and raising her arms above her head, feeling the stretch in all of her muscles, feeling the bones in her back move from the place where they had been to the place where they should be. She walked around to the front of the car, meeting Brennan. She grabbed his arms to stop him from walking onwards. She wrapped her own arms around his neck and he instinctually wrapped his around her lower back. She leaned into him and they swayed with each other in time to the music. Feeling her body against his made Brennan smile. He had missed her for so long and now she was right there in front of him, holding onto him. He pressed his lips against the top of her head, burying his face in her hair. He felt her cheeks move against his chest as she smiled.

Eventually they pulled apart and Shalimar moved back towards the car. She placed her hands on the hood of the vehicle and hoisted herself so that she was sitting on top of it. She slid across the metal so that her back was leaning against the windscreen and looked out across the landscape at the oncoming sunset. The sun was gradually making its way down through the sky towards the horizon, the shadows growing longer as it did. Brennan sat on the hood next to her and she leaned her head against his shoulder. It was a comfortable place, their bodies fitted like pieces of a jigsaw. The sun lit up their faces, causing them to squint their eyes slightly. They sat there for what felt like hours, watching the world pass them by, enjoying the complete lack of movement between them. Everything recently had been moving so quickly that it was a relief for both of them to just sit and watch. The sun gave out one brief blast of heat and light and then sank below the edge of the world.


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks for the reviews and support. Hopefully I'll be a little quicker uploading stuff now that uni has settled down a little. Please reciew this chapter and no. 9 should be up by tomorrow night (British time).

* * *

Jesse watched as Lexa breathed deeply, her body remaining still as she leant back against the leather seat of the plane and watched through the window as the world passed her by. Down below tiny fields and even tinier threads of roads could just be made out. The plane was descending slowly to a strip in Logan Airport, one only in use to VIP flights. The plane passed through some low lying clouds, the white shapes amassing around the plane and then splitting apart from the planes force.

Lexa missed the Helix. She had gradually grown used to regular planes but she had loved flying in the Helix. It was smooth and fast and its flexibility in the air had been a sight to see. She had loved looking through its windows to the ground below, knowing that whatever was down there would be no match for the united force of Mutant X. Lexa had never been very good at dealing with change. She would have loved to have thought she was and that was the act she presented to everyone but she hated when things ended and new things had to begin. But it was only when Shalimar had left that the team really fell apart. Lexa would have loved to have completely sympathised with Shalimar's situation at the time but there were times when she couldn't. She had hated her for leaving, not least because of what it did to two of the only men in her life who meant anything. She may have bickered like crazy with Brennan and she may have played games with Jesse for months but she loved them like family. She hadn't meant to get quite so sucked in but she had, they had drawn her in, their personalities weaving this spell around her and pulling her closer, making her care. She had opened herself up and then she had suffered the consequences when everything started to fall apart.

Brennan had been the first to leave. The arguments between him and everyone else had increased in number and intensity and then one day he had packed his bags and taken one of the cars and he hadn't come back. Rooms became quieter, the atmosphere became less vibrant and eventually Sanctuary had stopped being the ultimate safehouse and had started being a prison, stopping Lexa and Jesse from leaving because they couldn't ever give up hope. But eventually, after weeks of trying to live normal lives, or as normal as their lives ever got they had both given up on the other two ever returning. Lexa remembered weeping like she had never done before and in that moment she had hated them more than anything. They had placed their own pride and their own feelings before those of the two people who were being left behind. They had left, shutting everything off, closing everything down, closing Sanctuary and leaving it to the thousands of ghosts that had amassed over the years.

Learning what Shalimar had really been going through back then had helped Lexa to understand but she was more angry than she would ever let on that they had both left again, without a word from either of them. They had taken it upon themselves to do what they saw fit, not caring, not giving a thought for what the other two were going to do without them. Lexa had never relied on anyone, had never allowed herself to, but she depended on all of them and on the hope and faith that they provoked in her, two feelings she didn't think she was capable of feeling.

She looked across at Jesse, his blue eyes boring into her own. He knew exactly what she was thinking. She didn't know how but he did. The stare they shared wasn't uncomfortable and they held it without a blink from either of them. Gradually the plane lowered to the ground and they felt the light bumps as the plane landed on the tarmac and taxied along the runway. It came to a stop and they stood up, reaching into the overhead compartments, grabbing the small bags they had brought with them. They walked, hand in hand off the plane and out of the airport, their eyes weary but bright.

* * *

Shalimar felt the slight bump through the car, again. She had felt it twice before, both times causing her to frown. There was something wrong with the vehicle, she knew that much but what it was she couldn't figure out.

'Brennan,' she said quietly, trying to wake him up. He had quickly fallen asleep in the passenger seat and Shalimar had taken over driving duties. She was feeling more alive and awake than she had done all day and she had opened the window fully, enjoying the feel of cool air through her hair and across her face. She had turned the radio off, allowing her to fully enjoy the night time sounds that she knew only she could hear. The chirping of crickets in the fields next to the road, the whistling of grass as the breeze passed between the shoots, all of it was music to her and she smiled slightly, allowing her muscles to relax a little more. It was difficult knowing that they were getting closer to Taylor but unable to reach her any quicker than they were moving at the moment.

'Brennan?' she repeated, reaching across to shake his shoulder slightly, gently at first, getting harder when he didn't stir. She took her eyes off the road, knowing that she would be able to sense any obstacle before any normal person could see it.

He groaned and brushed her arm away. She looked at his face, his eyes screwed up, his mouth open as he objected to her continued assault on his sleeping form. She started poking him harder, her finger digging into his arm. She rolled her eyes and was about to give up on her mission when she felt the car jerk again. There was definitely something wrong with it and as talented as she was there was no way she was going to be able to fix it.

'Brennan!' she yelled into his ear. He shot up, his eyes wide and slammed his head into the window. He grimaced and his hand shot to the back of his head, rubbing his skull vigorously.

'What?' he bit out, a huge frown still resting on his face.

'There's something wrong with the car,' replied Shalimar as she tried to stifle her giggles. Brennan glared at her and she managed to fake a serious, slightly sympathetic look.

'Pull it over,' Brennan said.

As the words exited his mouth the car gave another judder and shook violently before stalling completely.

They both stared, speechless out of the front windscreen. Shalimar's face was blank as she waited for Brennan to get out of the car and go fix whatever problem there was with it.

After waiting a few moments she got impatient. 'Go fix it,' she demanded.

'I wouldn't be able to see a thing in this light,' Brennan replied, his look disbelieving.

Shalimar reached across to the glove compartment and pulled it open more aggressively than she had intended. Her eyes glowed as she looked through the maps and old food wrappers till she found what she was looking for.

She yanked out a torch, flicking it on and handing it to Brennan.

'Go do something,' she said, her tone brooking no opposition.

Brennan rolled his eyes before pushing the door of the car open and walking round to the front of the vehicle. Shalimar pushed the button to open it and Brennan pulled it up, blocking her view.

She leant back against the seat and closed her eyes, her senses becoming even more alert without the constant noise and buzz of the engine to interrupt her scan of the world. She could hear occasional utterances from Brennan as he muttered from underneath the hood of the car.

'I can hear you,' she called out, rousing herself from her moment of relaxation.

'Good,' Brennan replied, his voice containing signs of frustration and mild anger. He couldn't really be angry at her, never could, not Shalimar. She would either manage to wheedle herself out of the situation with a little well placed flirting or she would look at him, with her huge brown eyes that could never lie to him. It wasn't her fault that she always got herself out of certain circumstances; it was just that anyone who met her couldn't help but be wrapped around her little finger.

He heard her shift herself out of the vehicle and walk around towards him. She came into view and smirked at him as he held the torch in his mouth and peered into the mass of engine parts. She had no idea how he could tell one part from the next having never had a knack with mechanics.

'Need some help?' she asked, repentance at waking him up showing in her tone.

'No, I think I've worked out what the problem is anyway,' he answered, rubbing his hand across his forehead, slowly easing out the tension and wrinkles.

'What?' Shalimar asked eagerly, ready to get moving again. She didn't like sitting still at the best of times but she definitely didn't want to be in one place for too long knowing that the Dominion were desperate to catch up with them. She didn't feel safe when they were just sitting on the edge of the road.

'You know there's that dial in the car that tells you when you're out of gas? Its probably telling us we're out of gas since that is the problem.'

'Well it can't be working or something,' Shalimar replied with a sigh. A problem so trivial was not something she wanted to be faced with at that moment in time. She didn't have time to waste in running out of gas.

'Or maybe you've been understandably distracted and you just didn't notice,' Brennan said, his voice calming as he walked towards her and took her hands in his. Coming from anyone else it would have been condescending but Shalimar knew he meant it in the best possible way.

'So, what are we going to do?' she asked, leaning into him, relishing his warmth.

'The next gas station could be miles away.'

'This strikes me as a fairly cliched premise to a horror movie.'

They looked at each other before laughing. Shalimar walked back to the drivers side of the car and reached into the back, grabbing her bag and pulling it over the headrests from the back seat. She pulled out a mobile phone from the front pocket and turned it on.

'Where did you get that from?' Brennan asked.

'Stole it from Lexa,' she replied sheepishly. She had decided that being organised was preferable to the situation they were currently stuck in. She searched through the phone book until she found Jesse's name and, after a moments hesitation pushed the call button. She raised the phone to her ear and heard the ringing tone at the other end. She wasn't entirely sure where they were or how Jesse and Lexa were going to pick them up quickly and easily but she knew that they were her only hope.

* * *

Jesse sat up as his mobile started vibrating against the table top. He and Lexa had reached the hotel room about fifteen minutes earlier and had decided that going straight to bed was probably a good idea given their current levels of energy. He picked the phone up quickly and padded into the bathroom, closing the door behind him and sitting on the edge of the bath.

'Hello?' he asked, as he pushed the call button having taken in that it was Lexa calling him.

'Hi,' came Shalimar's tiny voice. She sounded like she was in a seriously bad area receptionwise but she also sounded intensely guilty about running off. He decided to give her a hard time about it later, he couldn't look her in the eye as he went off on one about telling your friends where you were going over the phone.

'Where are you?' he said, his voice barely above a whisper as he thought of the sleeping form in the next room.

'We're on a road somewhere,' Shalimar replied helpfully.

'I'll trace your signal and I'll be there as soon as possible, okay?' he said, already standing up.

'Okay,' she said, the relief evident.

He cut the call before walking out of the bathroom. He pulled on a pair of trousers and shoes as quietly as possible, knowing how light a sleeper Lexa could be. He opened one of the drawers on the bedside table and pulled out the complimentary hotel paper. He grabbed a pen and scribbled a note to Lexa, making her aware of where he had gone and placed it on his pillow. Having done that he took one last look at the brunette before grabbing his jacket from the back of a chair and walking out of the room, shutting the door with an almost silent click.

* * *

She squeezed her eyes shut as the sun threatened to break her out of her deep sleep. She hadn't dreamt about anything, her mind completely blank and it was the most rest she had gotten in a long time. She pulled the duvet over her head shutting out the light completely and settled herself down to sleep again.

She frowned. Something was missing. There was something that should have been in the room that wasn't and she wasn't sure what it was. She pulled the duvet from over her head and lay there, trying to acclimatise herself to her new surroundings. It wasn't a new occurrence, sleeping in a hotel room. It felt, a lot of the time like she and Jesse didn't even have a home. It would have been unsettling but having Jesse beside her in any bed made it feel like it was the place she was meant to be.

She rolled over onto her side and placed her hand on his chest, hoping to wake him up but there was no chest for her to place her hand on. She frowned as she raised herself onto her forearm and looked at the bed, her eyes and brain failing to comprehend what was going on. She was so tired that at that moment she wasn't even sure that she cared that he was gone but something twinged in the back of her mind reminding her that she really did. She looked at Jesse's pillow where his head should have been, his blonde hair tousled and messy and saw the note he had left behind.

'Got call from Brennan and Shalimar. Have gone to get them. Will be back soon. Be lazy and stay in bed till I get back. I love you.' She read the note to herself, a smile spreading across her face as she read his scribbled hand writing. She fell back into the mass of pillows and closed her eyes, relishing the warmth and the support of something relatively hard against her aching back. She held the note in one of her hands as she drifted into sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Okay, so I'm a little bit delayed with this update but I've been super busy so you're lucky that you're even getting this.

Thanks for the continued reviews, I really do appreciate them.

* * *

Shalimar raised the mug to her parted lips and gulped down some of the now lukewarm coffee. She grimaced at the taste and immediately placed the mug back on the table. She swallowed the bitter liquid quickly before turning her attention back to the surface in front of her, completely covered with papers; maps, graphs, emails; lots and lots of paper. She was feeling a little overwhelmed but being in Boston, so close to where her daughter was being held made her feel more able to deal with it. Brennan sitting in a chair next to her, asking all kinds of questions and getting aggravated when he didn't get the answers he wanted made her feel a lot more able to deal with it.

Jesse had picked them up a mere half hour after she had called him. Things had been tense between the three of them. Brennan obviously wasn't too good at waiting for things to happen, always wanting to rush in without a second thought as to what the consequences might be; Shalimar just wanted Taylor back and although she had fully considered the consequences she was willing and prepared to forget about them just to see her daughter again, to hold her; Jesse on the other hand had always been more patient. If he was going to do anything it was going to be the right way. He had planned everything fifteen times over, looking at the situation from every possible angle just like he always did.

But the minute Jesse had looked into Shalimar's eyes he had forgiven her. Many would have called him gullible for believing that she wasn't going to get him to give them a lift back into the city just so the pair of them could take off all over again, but he knew Shalimar. Some things didn't change and her eyes had always told him everything.

In comparison to everything else that seemed to have been happening recently the drive into Boston had been surprisingly like old times. Shalimar had sat in the passenger seat with Jesse driving while Brennan hung on the backs of their chairs. Shalimar had fiddled around with the radio, finding a station playing a song that she liked before screwing around with it some more once the song had ended. The guys would tell her to cut it out but typical Shalimar she had growled playfully under her breath before turning the volume up. They had talked about the most random of subjects, most of which weren't memorable enough for any of them to remember. It was the fact that they were all talking and bickering and laughing like old times that mattered immeasurably.

When they finally reached the city, the sun had shown its face over the horizon. It was blindingly bright and the sky had gradually changed from deep blues to dusky pinks to a light pure turquoise. Shalimar had watched the progress of the sky from night to day and she had felt herself gradually becoming more tired. She wasn't completely nocturnal but she was still more adapted to the dark than she was to the day and everything that was happening was catching up with her, her energy levels starting to run low. The food that she and Brennan had bought in New York had long since given her whatever boost it was going to and she was absolutely starving.

Jesse had pulled up outside a hotel. It was big, expensive and imposing in all its grandeur. The valet drew up smoothly, smiling cheerfully at everyone in the vehicle and they had sent some pretty strong withering looks, attempting to send him a message that he seemed incapable of receiving. Eventually they had managed to make their way past simpering staff, who were far too happy to be human towards the dining room. Brennan and Shalimar had both ordered everything, very aware of the fact that the CIA was picking up the bill. Jesse had chosen to be a little more restrained. He wanted to check on Lexa but didn't really want to leave Brennan and Shalimar alone. He could sense how much they wanted to get moving on finding Taylor and getting her back. He understood their frustrations and he also understood exactly what he could do to help alleviate them to some extent. He had requested every single piece of information on the location of Taylor and on the possible people who were holding her. There were three possibilities as to the people who had taken Taylor hostage. Jesse had put together rap sheets for all of them complete with colour pictures.

'Kaden Nolan,' Jesse said as he placed the rap sheet in front of Shalimar and Brennan. 'He's a freelancer but he's definitely worked for the Dominion before and they seem to place a lot of faith in his ability to get the job done.'

'He hasn't been convicted of anything?' Brennan asked.

'None of the people the Dominion look to will have ever been convicted of a single crime, not a parking ticket or overdue library book. The Dominion will either use their influence to wipe anything, or that particular criminal will be too good at their job to get caught in the first place.'

'Next,' Shalimar said, impatient to get moving. She was done with drinking coffee and talking about doing something.

'Raven,' Jesse replied, placing another sheet of paper in front of her.

'Let me guess; she does the work of the Dominion as her day job but is still hoping that she can leave that life behind in favour of a pop career and a seven figure movie deal?'

Shalimar and Jesse both turned to look at Brennan. He smirked at them and they both turned back to the paper, Shalimar taking the opportunity to elbow him lightly in the ribs.

'She's incredibly dangerous, an employee of the Dominion, very important in the great scheme of things and very high up in the organisation. The CIA is sure that she's done this kind of thing before, kidnapping people to tip the tables in the favour of the Dominion but we've never been able to track her down.'

Shalimar nodded, not really listening. 'Next?'

'Last but not least, Daveigh Ryder. She's a CIA defector. It appears that a few years ago she became attracted to the Dominion, not because of matching ideologies but because of the money they were offering. She's now a key agent, one of the most important and presumably looking for some kind of promotion right about now.'

'Which do you think is the most likely?' Shalimar asked.

'They all have certain attributes that make them perfect for the job. Kaden is incredibly smart and he's a telepath which would instantly recommend him. But he tends to make himself present at the events he plans and causes, and that doesn't scan with Taylor fighting. He could have subdued her and saved himself a lot of trouble.'

Shalimar looked across at Jesse. She wasn't sure how much Lexa had told him about Taylor's father but he seemed oblivious to anything he might have said. Clearly it had been an innocent remark, he didn't know about Taylor's elemental abilities. But it brought back to Shalimar's mind the fact that she had to tell Brennan at some point, a fact she didn't really want to be reminded of.

'Raven's faithful to the Dominion and would definitely do anything to maintain their particularly good view of her. Her past experiences would also recommend her. Her mutant ability can't hurt either,' Jesse said, not noticing the change in Shalimar.

'Which is…'

'She's a teleporter but again that doesn't explain the cars since she could have gone into the building and then snatched Taylor and made her way up to Boston without any other mode of transportation.'

'So it looks like we're facing Daveigh Ryder?' Shalimar asked, forcing herself to pay more attention to the conversation and less to her own thoughts.

'She fits,' Jesse replied. 'There's one other thing that would make her perfect for this job,' he continued, looking at Shalimar, concern evident in his eyes.

'She's a fire elemental,' Shalimar said quietly, reading the look that Jesse sent her.

'So we think its Daveigh,' Brennan said, reaching under the table for Shalimar's hand. When he found it he clasped it tightly, understanding her intense fears.

'We have a whole file, most of it garnered from her days working with the CIA so if you want some light reading then I would suggest going through it but honestly there's nothing new in there that will help us in any huge way.'

He watched them both react to everything he had told them. They needed to be alone, they needed to process all of the information they had just been given. His motives for leaving the room were not entirely selfless. He needed to see Lexa. He would always act like the world didn't phase him, like he was strong and capable of dealing with anything but he was as weak as the rest of the human race. Physically he could take on a hell of a lot of people successfully but more often than not he would admit that he just wanted to crawl up into a small ball and shrink away from the rest of the world. Lexa made him feel stronger, less helpless in a world where he didn't ever make the decisions, others made them on his behalf without asking him what his opinion was.

He stood up from his seat, and, taking one last look back at the couple left the room. He walked across the carpet, thick and cushioned under his feet and pushed the button on the metal panel next to the lift. He watched as the individual numbers were illuminated as the elevator made its slow way down through the floors. Eventually it reached the ground floor and he heard a piercing ding as it arrived. As the doors slid back he saw the one person he needed at that moment. Her face lit up as she saw him and he stepped towards her, into the elevator, their lips meeting, hands running across each others faces, their bodies pressed tightly against each other.

* * *

She opened her eyes and looked around but there was only darkness. Nothing appeared in the gloom to illuminate anything. She could hear vague, muffled noises occasionally sounding out in the space around her but nothing close up. She blinked, scrunching her eyes together until spots and flashes danced in front of her. She opened them, concentrating as hard as she could to try and gather enough strength to force her eyes to do what would normally have been considered impossible. She felt the world around her begin to change and everything lit up as if a light bulb had been suddenly switched on. But within seconds a searing pain ripped through her nerves, shredding them all across her body. She let out a sharp cry before collapsing back against the chair she was tied to. She breathed deeply before her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She passed out, a dull ache flowing through her body.

* * *

'We ready?' Lexa asked. She pulled her leather jacket on and looked around her at the group of people facing her.

'Yeah,' replied Brennan, on behalf of all of them. He looked across at Shalimar. She was putting on a brave face, he could tell. But it was one hell of a face.

'Lets go,' Shalimar said, as strongly and as confidently as she could. She was worried beyond the telling of it. There were so many things that had the potential to go wrong with this mission. What if she screwed it all up because she was scared of fire? What if everything went wrong due to something completely out of her control?

Lexa looked across at Jesse. He was worried and she knew that Shalimar was causing a whole ton of that worry, for all of them. 'You heard the woman,' Jesse said, his voice rising above the slight rustle of sound. Everybody looked at him and he would have blushed, thus shattering his masculine image forever but after only a few seconds everyone turned away from him and started making for the back door of the hotel. There were cars and trucks parked outside, all of them waiting to take the team to the site where Taylor was being held.

The only people left in the foyer were Brennan, Lexa, Jesse and Shalimar. They all looked at each other. It had been a while since someone had sounded the battle cry that would lead them into a fight. It had been a long time since that kind of fight had even presented itself. They could all feel the adrenaline punching its way through their veins, coursing along, filling them with energy that was going to be much needed.

Without so much as a word being exchanged they all turned. Shalimar grabbed Brennan's arm and held him back as Jesse and Lexa carried on moving.

She breathed deeply, in and out, in and out, forcing her lungs to fill with air. She needed to be calm for the next few minutes. But she knew that she was asking something impossible of herself. Even if her lungs were being stable, she couldn't guarantee that her brain would allow it to stay that way.

'There's something we need to talk about,' she said, not daring to look him in the eye.

'What?' Brennan asked with a frown.

'There's something about Taylor that you should know,' she replied, her heart quickening in pace.

He looked down at her. She was deliberately avoiding eye contact and that scared him. He lifted her chin with his fingers until her eyes met his.

'What is it?'


	10. Chapter 10

I just finished chapter 21 and have made a start on chapter 22 so hopefully this story will be finished soon and these updates will be more regular. Thanks for the reviews, especially those of you who are making the effort to catch up with old chapters.

* * *

She leant her head against the window of the car, looking through the glass at the world as it sped past her. A radio in the front kept all the vehicles in close contact with each other and it occasionally beeped and crackled, the sounds of static reverberating around the confined space. Her weary eyes closed as she felt the chill of the glass cool her hot forehead.

She wanted to cry, wanted to scream with frustration, wanted to blow something up just so she would have some medium by which to vent her intense anger. But mostly she just wanted to lie down. The place didn't matter. It could be a bed, a couch, the hard floor or even the road underneath the car for all she cared. She wanted to rest her body, she wanted to shut out the world which seemed so persistent in its efforts to make her pay for a crime she didn't know she had committed.

She should have told him sooner, should have called him from New York as soon as she got there and told him that she was pregnant, she should never have left Sanctuary in the first place. She had so many regrets in her life and no way that she could go back and change things. She had never known that life could be so difficult. She wished for days before she knew anything about anything. When she had been a child everything had been sweetness and light; granted a deceptive happiness but she had at least been able to experience that particular emotion. And then she had found out about Genomex and Adam and what had followed was one long period of torture. There were moments when she would never have gone back, no matter what kind of choices she had she would have joined Mutant X because the people and the things that they were all attempting to accomplish were so beautiful. But those moments, more recently had been few and far between.

She could picture his face when she told him. He had looked shocked, his eyes looking absolutely everywhere with the exception of her as he tried to focus his mind on the fact that he had a daughter. But she had a feeling that he wasn't all that surprised. There were certain things she could hide from people but Brennan was connected to her. After everything they had been through he was a part of who she was. He had known, some part of him had known.

And then he had turned and walked away from her, without a word he had left. She had expected an argument, a huge row, something solid that she could hold on to but he had gone. She had been left standing in the foyer of the hotel and after a few minutes she had turned and walked through the back door. She had climbed into one of the cars. She had seen the look between Jesse and Lexa as they noticed the lack of Brennan but, thankfully they had decided not to address that specific topic with her. She had leaned back against the seat and had felt the car peel away from the curb, carrying them all to whatever the future held.

* * *

The darkness was ripped asunder. A strong beam of unflickering light washed across the floor of the room, bringing into sharp focus the thin, old carpet and the grime that covered it. She raised her head as far as she was able but the pain in her neck had become more intense since she had last blacked out. She looked at the figure walking towards her from underneath her eyelashes. The woman was tall and slender, her willowy frame appearing as a silhouette to Taylor's eyes. She blinked slowly, her head pounding, her back aching, her wrists suffering from prolonged contact with the tight ropes bound around them. Her head lolled against her chest as she let it droop, her attention not focused on the woman who was getting closer.

Daveigh looked down at the small girl. She looked worn, broken, exhausted. She was surprised to find herself feeling sorry for her. She knelt down in front of the chair to which Taylor was tied. She reached out a hand and placed her fingers underneath Taylor's chin, raising her head so she could look into the girls eyes. They opened slowly but once they had opened fully they stared into her own eyes unblinkingly, seemingly without fear.

'Ferals,' Daveigh said with a wry smile.

She let Taylor's head drop back onto her chest and stood. She turned and began to walk back across the room towards the door. She frowned as she did and stopped and turned.

'For what its worth,' she said, her voice echoing into the darkest corners, 'this is nothing personal. You're not the only person trapped in a situation they can't get out of.' With that she turned and was gone.

Taylor raised her head as she was once again enveloped by the gloom. She smiled to herself. The fact that they were still checking on her meant that someone was coming. Someone out there cared enough to fight for her and she knew exactly who it was.

* * *

'You want some water?' Jesse said quietly as he turned around in his seat to look at Shalimar. She didn't acknowledge his presence so he repeated the question, pushing her to open up a little more, just enough to let him in. He wanted, needed to know that she was okay and with her staring out of the window, not paying him the slightest bit of attention he couldn't do that.

She jerked her head round, her eyes questioning, wondering what the disturbance was. She looked straight at Jesse as he asked the question for a third time before shaking her head and turning to the window again. She wanted to see Brennan. She didn't care if they fought over the whole issue of her lying to him for so long, she needed to confront him. At that moment in time any kind of action was preferable to the never-ending car journey.

The lack of Brennan was problematic for the mission itself, regardless of her emotions. Obviously the new mutants would enter the building first. Jesse was going to get them all in through a wall at which point Brennan and Lexa would have been working together to take out any hostiles. They were the two long range shooters of the team and Brennan's electrical abilities were that bit more far reaching than Lexa's. They had been pretty much relying on him to watch their backs. And now, through her own actions she had put them all in jeopardy. Brennan was no longer helping them, he was no longer a part of the team, all thanks to her own stupidity.

'You told him, didn't you?' Lexa's voice broke in on Shalimar's thoughts. She turned her head to look at the brunette and raised her eyebrows in answer to the question.

'If it helps at all I think he's probably just a little shocked,' Lexa said quietly, so that Jesse wouldn't hear.

'He's definitely shocked. I wouldn't be surprised if he never wanted to talk to me again. I wouldn't blame him.' She closed her eyes, rubbing her finger against her temple, trying to alleviate the headache she could sense was setting up shop inside her skull.

'He'll do the right thing,' Lexa replied.

'How can you be sure?'

'Because he's Brennan.'

Shalimar smiled a little as she turned back to the window. The landscape was gradually changing from that of the highway to a more urbanised area. She was sure they were getting closer. The pull of Taylor was becoming more powerful with every passing second. The cars were moving too slowly for Shalimar's liking. She would have preferred to have exited the vehicle and then she could have run all the way to Taylor's location. At least then she would have felt like she was doing something.

Buildings became more frequent, the world around them changing from suburbia to industrial. Shalimar watched as the vehicles at the front of the procession turned down a smallish side street. On one side were shops, on the other some houses, their own little white picket fences bordering their gardens from the street.

'We're here,' Jesse said, turning in his seat to look at the two women. He was as nervous as they looked. He didn't want to do the mission with one of the major players missing in action. He had absolutely no idea why Brennan had left. He felt completely out of the loop, like there was something everyone else knew that he wasn't privy to. It was definitely something to do with Shalimar but that couple had so many issues he wasn't entirely sure which one it was this week. He didn't mean to make them out as trivially as he was. They loved each other, of that much he was certain. But the fact that they loved each other, would die for each other didn't ever seem to be enough. They had tried the relationship thing and then Shalimar had left and now she had a daughter which complicated things so much…

Jesse frowned as he looked at the blonde before him. He had just had one very coherent thought about Brennan and Shalimar. His gaze caught her eye and she looked straight at him. She nodded, not needing to say a word. She knew that he knew about Taylor and Brennan and the complete mess that they were all currently involved in. He reached forward, taking her hand in his and squeezing it gently. He wanted to reassure her of so much more but all he could do was let her know that he was there and that he cared.

She pushed the car door open and stepped out onto the sidewalk. The morning was definitely over. When they had left the hotel it hadn't been much past dawn. The light had been effervescent, the sky the palest of blues with tiny clouds scudding across it slowly. The sun had been bright and low but now it was higher in the sky which had gradually taken on more colour. Shalimar could feel the extra heat as she took her leather jacket off and slung it onto the back seat. She stretched her arms above her head, feeling the tense muscles of her back loosen themselves. Her eyes swept quickly across the landscape. Her senses were tingling and she knew that Taylor was close. It was like something was pulling her towards her daughter and it was as much as she could do to not get dragged into something she wasn't fully prepared for.

She could sense the conversations behind her as she turned away from the small crowd of people. She couldn't listen to any of their comments. She was having a difficult enough time trying to keep a hold on her sanity already without having the mounting tension increased by their worries. She walked a small way along the road, scuffing her shoes along the ground and watching as miniature clouds of dust flew up into the air, swirling and then falling back to the ground. She heard them come up behind her, could feel their presence. She had wanted to go back to the team on so many separate occasions, but these had never been the circumstances that she had envisioned.

'When do we go in?' she asked, her voice empty of all emotion.

'Now,' Lexa replied.

Shalimar turned and looked the brunette in the eye.

'Now?' she asked, a shadow of any former passion returning to her eyes briefly.

'Now.'


	11. Chapter 11

Sorry it took a little longer this time, especially after everyone asked me to update quickly. There will be another update sometime tomorrow so hopefully that will make up for it a little bit. Thanks so much for the reviews, I hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as the last ones.

* * *

Daveigh moved amongst the Dominion agents, all of them acknowledging her presence, all of them sensing her power. She used to love that feeling, that people were scared of her. It made her feel so much more in control. Given her past, her time at Genomex being experimented on and her time with the CIA control was something she held as extremely dear. She wasn't granted it with the Dominion but unlike with the CIA there was no escape for her. What she had told Taylor was not an effort to gain the girls trust. She was trapped, working against her will. At least Taylor had people who gave enough of a damn about her to try and get her out.

'Ms Ryder,' one of the agents, a tall dark haired man said as he strode towards her. 'Mutant X have arrived in town. They've been spotted a couple of streets away from this building.'

Daveigh looked out of the window next to where she had stopped. She knew the fury of ferals and she was not looking forward to this particular fight. She had a feeling that her gift of fire would do little to Shalimar Fox. The woman was out for blood regardless of what stood in her way.

'Let me know when they get here,' she said as she brushed past him towards the closed door a few feet away.

'You don't want to take some kind of action now?' he asked.

'The action is coming whether or not we make the first move,' she said over her shoulder.

She pushed the door open and walked into the room. It was warm and muggy, due in large part to the blacked out windows and locked door. Taylor was chained to the chair in the middle of the floor. She looked worse off than she had done, her skin pale, her eyes shut, beads of perspiration slowly forming on her forehead and sliding across her face. Her hair was matted against her skull and her whole body seemed limp.

She started as the woman took a few steps into the room. Her eyes tried to focus but it was difficult. All of her senses were muddled and confused. Nothing was as it should be, everything was blurred and distorted.

'Your mums in town,' Daveigh said as she closed the door behind her with a click and walked towards Taylor. She knelt on the floor in front of the figure and looked up at her, concern evident in her eyes.

'She's gonna kick your ass,' Taylor bit out, her breaths short and rasping.

Daveigh smiled to herself, a melancholic look. 'You think she'll kill me?'

'Yes,' Taylor replied, finally raising her eyes to look at the woman in front of her. She had been finding it incredibly difficult to get a read on her. She was the only person in the entire building who had been nice to her. She wasn't like the others who had kidnapped her. She was kind and she seemed to care. But that didn't explain why she was doing the things she was doing. Why help the bad people if she herself wasn't bad?

'I hope so.'

Taylor frowned. 'Why?'

'My life sucks beyond the telling of it. Death would at least be an escape,' Daveigh replied conversationally.

Silence filled the room, consuming them both as they became lost in their own thoughts. Their eyes met and in that moment they understood the world they were in.

And in that moment Daveigh made a decision that would change her life. She stood up, her knees complaining violently and walked around to the back of Taylor's chair. She didn't know why she hadn't done this before. She felt no loyalty towards the Dominion. They had screwed her over on a million and one different occasions and now they were using Taylor to get to Mutant X. There were going to be huge consequences for her actions. The Dominion would find her of course. They would spend a lot of effort on hunting her down and when they located her they would make her pay. But God, it was gonna be worth it.

She ripped the blinds, black and completely opaque from the window. Light flooded the room and she blinked a few times, her eyes gradually getting used to the brightness. She attempted to push the sash window open but it wouldn't budge. There were nails holding it in place but there was nothing in the room with which to remove them. Smashing the window would draw too much attention. They would have to be quick if they were to make it out of there alive.

She looked at Taylor. The girl had been through so much already Daveigh was loathe to make her suffer more.

'How are you with fire?' she asked.

Taylor felt her palms grow cold and clammy at even the mention of it. She knew her fear was genetic, it was nothing to do with being weak but there was no way she could control it. A slight flicker of flame was enough to set her mind spinning. But more than that she was scared of the people who had taken her. The strong, confident woman, seemingly with her entire life ahead of her was terrified of the Dominion. Daveigh wasn't afraid of death but a group of people could make her completely petrified. Taylor definitely wasn't keen to meet them.

'I'll be alright,' she said, more confidence in her tone than in her body language.

'Stand next to the window,' Daveigh said, taking a step forward so she was between Taylor and the rest of the room.

'How are you going to get down?' Taylor asked, looking through the plate glass.

'Its only two floors,' Daveigh reassured her. She wasn't confident that she could make it but even if she was lying on the ground with two broken legs she could still form a fire wall to keep everyone else back for a good couple of hours. She grabbed the chair and handed it to Taylor.

The smash echoed throughout the street. The noise of glass fragments pounding against the pavement was audible to a group of people standing a few blocks away.

'Go!' Daveigh yelled as she slammed her hands together. She could feel the familiar and comforting energy of the flames as they formed inside of her before she pushed them out with her hands. A huge wall of fire spread itself in front of the door. Over the top of the flickering movement she could see agents coughing, choking on the smoke being sent up from the burning carpet.

She turned and perched herself on the window ledge, trying to psych herself up to jump.

'Come on,' Taylor shouted, her high pitched voice carrying, despite the shouts of agents and the crackling of the fire.

* * *

Shalimar sprinted along the street as soon as she heard the glass. Her feet stomped against the pavement as she ran, her heartbeat racing. She knew it was Taylor. Who else could it have been? But she had no idea if glass shattering was a good sign or a bad one. She needed to know that Taylor was okay and if she wasn't Shalimar needed to know whose ass she was to have the pleasure of kicking.

She rounded a corner and saw her. Her wild blonde hair was a complete mess of tangles, her face was pale, her clothes dirty. But she was her daughter and she was standing under 20 feet away.

Shalimar frowned as she followed Taylor's eye line. There was a woman clinging onto the building for dear life, smoke billowing from the open window behind her. Shalimar ran forward, unaware of the circumstances, but she figured that if her daughter deemed this woman good enough then so did she.

She passed in front of Taylor and bent her legs, pushing herself from the ground. Her body became almost weightless thanks to the momentum and she landed next to the anonymous woman on the ledge, finding her balance easily.

'Put your arm around me,' she yelled over the sounds coming from the room.

The woman, without taking her eyes away from the ground below her slung her arm across Shalimar's shoulders, her grip fierce and intense, fingertips digging into Shalimar's skin. As Shalimar stepped away from the ledge and dropped to the ground below she kept her eyes squeezed shut, afraid to watch as the floor came rushing to meet her. She felt her feet hit solid ground and she breathed once more. Air that was untainted by the smoke of the fire was a joy to her lungs and she stood, her hands on her knees breathing it all in. She knew exactly who her saviour was and she had a feeling that it had been some kind of superhero instinct that had just saved her life rather than the kindness of Shalimar's heart.

Shalimar turned to look up at the building. The fire had already consumed the interior of the room and stark amber and gold flames were licking at the red brick walls surrounding the wrecked window. She felt fear growing inside her. She may have been able to deal with small amounts of fire but that building was about to start crumbling and she didn't want to be around to witness it.

She turned, her mind finally catching up with her body and took in the sight of her daughter. She didn't remember a time when she had been so happy to see one person in her entire life. She could feel the tears rise to her eyes and her bottom lip begin to quiver uncontrollably.

'Hey you,' she said before bearing the brunt of Taylor's weight and momentum as the girl sped into her open arms. They embraced for what felt like hours, both the ferals recognising the distinctive scent of the other, breathing it all in.

'Are you okay?' Shalimar asked, more than a touch of concern in her tone.

The little girl nodded, so happy that she didn't have to be the hero anymore. She could quite happily leave that to her mother.

'We need to get out of here,' Shalimar said, her voice louder, stronger, more confident now that she had something tangible to stay alive for.

She turned and for the first time looked at the woman whose life she had just saved. She blinked, once, twice as she took in the face, the hair, the height of the woman. The growl grew deep and low in her throat and instinctively her eyes flashed golden. She didn't know why Daveigh Ryder had been perched on the windowsill, running from a fire that she had supposedly created nor did she care. She had received quite enough crap from the Dominion in her time and she was not going to let this one go.

She flinched as she felt a hand on her arm. She looked down at Taylor. She frowned, her shoulders dropping slightly, her stance becoming less aggressive.

Shalimar raised her eyes to look at the woman in front of her. She understood her daughters need to protect Daveigh, even if she didn't agree with it.

'We have to leave, now,' she said, her tone calm with the merest hint of danger underlying it. She was going to find out the full story later and she would decide then whether or not to drop her suspicions. She raised her eyebrows, a warning gesture making Daveigh aware of the fact that she wasn't to get too comfortable with her new status.

Shalimar took Taylor's hand and strode past Daveigh but she halted in her tracks. There was movement just around the corner from them all, many footsteps sounded out on the paving stones. She looked along the road behind them. She closed her eyes, a wry smile replacing open mouthed thoughtfulness as she took in the fence which officially made the road a dead end.

'Can you fight?' she asked, looking into Daveigh's eyes.

'I'm currently burning down their building,' she replied nervously.

'Me and my daughter, as I'm sure you're aware are not too good around fire so I need to know if you can fight without it.'

'Yes.'

Shalimar turned away from the woman and crouched down next to Taylor. 'I need you to hide somewhere,' she said.

'I can fight with you,' Taylor replied, her voice indignant.

'No.'

'I can kick ass-'

'No!' Shalimar's voice brooked no opposition and Taylor turned and ran behind the nearest trash can. 'And don't say ass,' Shalimar called after her.

Taylor was out of sight as the first Dominion agent rounded the corner. He stood at least ten feet away from the two new mutants who instantly took on fighting stances. He was joined within seconds by four more agents, all of them with some kind of dark smear across their faces, their suits looking as if they hadn't seen an iron in a good few months. Shalimar watched them. They were clearly afraid, scared of the potential of the two women in front of them. She smirked but it quickly disappeared from her face. Something was wrong. She blinked as she realised that wasn't it. It wasn't that something was wrong; something had just become incredibly right but she had no idea what it was. It was like she had found the last piece of an intensely complicated jigsaw puzzle and she had fitted it in and now everything made sense. But what was the piece?

She blinked again, shaking the thoughts from her mind as she concentrated on the fight that was imminent. She didn't know quite who was going to make the first move but she could play the waiting game as well as anyone.

She watched as one of the men took it upon himself to move forward, away from the safety of the group. He reached behind him, to the back of his trousers and Shalimar saw the flash of sunlight reflecting from a gun. She instantly stepped forward and kicked him straight in the gut. It was the sign they had all required as the men all moved in on the pair. Shalimar dropped to the floor as a punch was thrown over her head. She kicked out with her leg, taking the first agent down with ease. He fell to the floor and she stood up, blocking a few kicks from the second agent who had clearly spent his childhood watching far too many kung fu movies. She quickly knocked him to the floor where he remained, out cold. She spared a glance for Daveigh who seemed to be holding her own. Shalimar turned her attention back to the third agent but was immediately knocked to the floor with a hefty punch hitting her left cheekbone. She lay, dazed on the ground knowing that she was wasting time, but the hit had been hard and pain was slamming into her face in huge waves making it difficult to think.

She rolled over onto her back so she could keep an eye on the guy but as she looked up she stared straight into the barrel of a gun. There was no way, even with her increased reflexes and speed that she could grab the weapon before he pulled the trigger and she really didn't want to end up as splatter marks on the street.

She closed her eyes, savouring the darkness. She frowned as she felt a rush of something pass over her face, the wind brushing against her skin. She opened her eyes and saw that there was no one there, the guy with the gun was gone. All she could see was the sky, brighter than previously, the sun higher already, the day moving on with predictable steadiness. She watched, frowning as static bursts of blue electricity swirled above her head, the noise causing blood to rush through her veins that bit faster, static crackling in the atmosphere. She rolled over on the ground and pushed herself up from the floor her eyes staring straight ahead.

Lexa had been right.


	12. Chapter 12

Thanks once again for all the reviews, the support is, of course appreciated. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the previous ones.

* * *

She flinched as the cleaning solution was brushed against her cheek and the long, thin gash that had appeared as a result of the falling glass from the building. It stung and the smell of old blood found its way to her nose. She looked across the street. Fire-fighters were still working on putting out the smaller blazes that refused to calm themselves into ash, but the rest of the building was a hollow shell of what it had once been. She found it difficult to believe that such a structure could house so many people. It looked so feeble and weak, barely capable of holding its own weight. A loud crash sounded out from inside the building as a staircase collapsed in on itself. A huge dust cloud filled the air.

Her eyes flitted across to the slightly mismatched pair sitting on the edge of the sidewalk. She smiled at them both, understanding quite how odd a couple they made. The small girl, pale with intensely crazy hair who could talk for hours about nothing; and the tall man, a gorgeous bronze colour touching his skin, his dark hair neat as per usual, who preferred to remain silent, thoughtful, not that he could have got a word in edgeways. They had been sitting there for at least half an hour. She could tell they were both as nervous as if they were about to take an exam on each others likes and dislikes, but they seemed to fit. She understood as well as anyone who knew the slightest thing about the whole situation that it would take a lot more than half an hour for them to even feel like they knew each other well enough to be related. She knew it would take a hell of a lot more than one conversation. But at least it was a beginning.

'Jess, are you using paint stripper on that wound or what?' she asked indignantly, glaring at him, a mocking glint in her eye.

'Well, if you would stop being such a baby and quit wincing every time I go anywhere near your face then it would be a lot less painful…' He faded out as he noticed that Shalimar's gaze was concentrated over his shoulder. There was no more laughter present on her face. He turned around to see the victim of Shalimar's unforgiving glare and Shalimar took the chance to stand up and stalk past him.

'You picked the wrong daughter to kidnap,' she said, loudly enough to make Taylor and Brennan turn around and watch from where they were sitting.

'I didn't have a choice in the matter-' Daveigh began.

'You always have a choice,' Shalimar yelled in reply. 'And my daughter may have forgiven you for making the wrong one but I'm not quite so easy to persuade.'

'I got her out, didn't I?' Daveigh replied.

'Yeah, you did,' Shalimar answered, her voice dangerously calm. 'But you're also the one who got her in there in the first place, so don't expect me to save your life again.'

* * *

Brennan watched as Shalimar walked away from her scene with Daveigh. He knew exactly what she was going through, understood every emotion Shalimar was experiencing because he was going through it all too. It was weird, he never thought he'd get the whole parental thing. When he was younger he had been under the impression that he was gonna be young forever. He had had a major peter pan complex fuelling him. And now he couldn't imagine himself not being a father. He had certainly grown up in his years with Mutant X. He had been taught a lot of things but he had a feeling that Taylor was gonna be one of the most influential teachers he would ever have the honour to learn anything from.

He turned back to the girl he had been having the most animated conversation with. She was definitely Shalimar's child.

'She hasn't changed,' he said with raised eyebrows.

'Good.'

He laughed out loud, his voice carrying on the wind to her ears. She hadn't walked far from them, wanting to make sure that they were both okay. It was good to hear those sounds again. She hadn't realised how much she had missed them, or him.

* * *

'You okay?' Lexa asked, taking Jesse by the arm and leading him away from the group of people, CIA agents, fire-fighters and various civilians. Her eyes stared straight into his and she could see the doubts that seemed to be a permanent fixture at the moment.

He considered answering with a simple 'yeah' but, seeing her expression he wisely guessed that that wouldn't be such a good idea. 'I'm just worried about them.'

'I know what you mean,' she replied.

'Its just that Brennan and Shalimar have never made it as a couple. They were together for a couple of months at most and before that they played so many damn games with each other that I didn't know what was what. And now Taylor's met Brennan. I know he's gonna be a great parent and so is Shalimar but I just don't know whether they can be a family.'

Lexa leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, softly, gently. He could have melted in that kiss. Eventually they pulled apart, both pairs of eyes on each other. Lexa leant into him, resting her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his waist. She loved the feeling of him against her, it made her feel like the world wasn't quite as crazy as it seemed. She could still hear the quiet crackling of the building as it slowly cooled down. It had been such a strange day and it felt like hours had passed, it felt like the day should have finished already.

She looked up as a CIA agent walked towards her. His face held an urgency that turned her stomach. She didn't want to have to face another battle already.

'Ms Pierce,' he said as he reached the couple. They reluctantly pulled apart.

'Yeah?'

'The Dominion will already know about the events of today so the advice of HQ is that we move as quickly as possible. They will have no qualms about attacking now, while we're all at ease.'

'Okay, thank you,' she replied, nodding her head slightly. She was too tired to even think about moving anywhere but she knew that what she had just been told was true. The Dominion knew about everything already, they would have made it their business to know and it was equally true that they would not think twice about taking out the entire Mutant X team in broad daylight and in front of hundreds of witnesses. But where to go was something she hadn't quite considered yet. Agents from the CIA would be okay, they weren't who the Dominion were after but the situation was slightly different for the team, Daveigh and Taylor included.

She looked up at Jesse and frowned. He was smirking at her.

'What?' she said, a hint of indignation making him smirk harder.

'Its not you,' he replied, on the defensive. 'Its just that I may have an answer to the question you haven't asked yet.'

'How do you do that?' she asked, genuinely curious as to how he always knew what she was thinking. He grabbed her hand as they walked towards the rest of the team.

'You may think you're mysterious but I can read you like an open book,' he replied.

Laughter filled the air as the happy couple released their tension.

* * *

Silence encapsulated everything. It was like it had seeped into the walls while everyone had turned their backs and now it was beyond difficult to get rid of. Brennan had been under the impression that he would never see this building again. It was the end result of some of the most surreal days he had ever had to live through. Their footsteps echoed through the empty hallways, some of the sound dulled by the numerous cobwebs which had taken up residence in their absence. His arm brushed against a wall as he walked and a huge cloud of dust was swept up around his face. He closed his eyes in an attempt to stop the slight stinging sensation and cleared his throat. He opened his eyes again and wiped the back of his other hand across his face. He watched as Shalimar walked further into the main room of Sanctuary. It was weird seeing her in there once more. It had been so long since the last time they had all been in the only place they had ever really called home. She looked so small and he was finding it increasingly difficult to not forgive her for lying to him. He was still angry and there was going to be one hell of a conversation between the pair of them when they got a minute to talk about it all but at that moment he couldn't think of a single reason why he had ever left her.

She could sense his eyes burning into the back of her skull. She felt an imperceptible shiver run along her spine and she continued moving, trying to shake the feeling of weakness in her knees. She was immediately distracted from her desire to turn around and jump into Brennan's arms by the sight that appeared before her. She had never for one moment suspected that she might see this building again. Everything seemed so familiar, nothing had changed. It was so strange that everything in her life had become different, for better or worse and yet the one place she could always rely on was still the same. It comforted her to know that there were things she could depend on. She walked further in, recognising things she had forgotten. Everything looked grimy, filthy but she could tell that there was definite promise in the building, there was potential for everything to become that bit brighter. She stopped walking and looked around her. Patches of sunlight flickered across the floor, few and far between due to the dirt that covered the windows. She felt a smile appear on her face. With the return of the team to Sanctuary it seemed like hope wasn't a completely abstract concept to them, it could actually be a reality.

She turned around and their eyes locked, something that seemed to be happening a lot lately. The imminent conversation between them was coming, she couldn't stop that but she felt a whole lot better about it than she had in a long time.

'What do you say we get this place cleaned up?'

Lexa's voice rang out in the still atmosphere. She raised her eyebrows as everybody turned to look at her.

'And, just so you all know this was Jesse's idea, not mine so you can blame it all on him.'


	13. Chapter 13

Thanks for all the support with this story so far. I still haven't finished the last two chapters; I appear to be suffering from a case of writers block so it could take a while but I will try and update soon.

* * *

'Why am I on window cleaning duty?' Shalimar asked indignantly.

'Because you're the only person who can get up that high without dropping right back down again,' Lexa replied.

'This is all just because you don't like me,' Shalimar answered mockingly.

'That too, honey,' Lexa called over her shoulder. Being back in Sanctuary had restored old relationships to their former glory, particularly that between Shalimar and Lexa. They were back to being as bitchy as ever, in the nicest possible way.

Shalimar picked the bucket of water up and climbed the spiral staircase to the upper level. She looked down at the ground below. It had already been swept free of any dust, of which there had been a lot and Jesse was now cleaning it thoroughly. The computers hadn't been put back on line yet but Brennan was taking care of that particular electrical problem. The last time Shalimar had seen him he had been in the process of fixing the lighting and Taylor was helping him. Or at least Brennan was trying to get the job finished and Taylor was chattering nervously, more to herself than anyone else. Shalimar really didn't give a damn where Daveigh was. She had been reluctant to bring the woman back to Sanctuary anyway but apparently there was nowhere else to leave her. Shalimar had suggested that the wonderful crew at the Dominion would be happy to have her but her idea had been rebuffed by everyone but Brennan. They all appeared to have discovered their inner conscience.

She bent her legs and jumped from the ground to the wide window sill. She placed the bucket on the ledge next to her and made sure that she was perfectly balanced. She started cleaning and was blinded by the sudden rush of light into the building for her trouble. She blinked before continuing. The soapy water ran down her arm, slowly soaking through the material of her top and she muttered something under her breath.

'You need some help?'

She jumped at the interruption. She hadn't realised anyone was there and felt her balance drifting away from her. She swayed dangerously on the window sill before steadying herself. Turning she jumped off the edge and landed on the metal gangway. She stood up, prepared to give whoever it was a damn good telling off but rethought her actions as she saw who was standing in front of her.

'As you can see, I'm fine,' she replied, laughing quietly as she thought about what a complete mess she must be.

Her cheeks were flushed, her hair scraped away from her face in a messy bun and her left arm was dripping slightly, the sleeve of her t-shirt damp as the water soaked in. He had never seen her looking quite so gorgeous. Domestic necessities suited her.

'Sorry about that,' he replied, his tone suitably repentant.

'I see you got the lighting fixed,' she said, looking around her at the overheads. She hadn't noticed that the entire room had been illuminated thanks to her temporary loss of eyesight due to the sun.

As the words left her mouth however the lights flickered, once, twice and then cut out all together. The pair were left in the bold light of the sun.

Seconds later they were both enshrouded in darkness and gloom, Shalimar with her back against the wall, trying desperately not to moan at the feel of Brennan's lips against hers. His hands ran across her face and sent shivers throughout her body. Her hands wrapped around his back, pulling him closer, their bodies slamming against each other. Eventually they pulled apart, their lungs urgent need for oxygen being the only thing that stopped them from continuing. She closed her eyes, relishing the feel of his breath against her face and the touch of his hands as they moved across her cheeks. He was staring intently at her, she could tell even without seeing him. She could sense his eyes travelling across her skin, taking in everything as though he were attempting to memorise her every feature.

When she opened her eyes she found herself looking into his. The warm chocolate tones were comforting. She blinked, trying to rid her eyes of the tears that she was ashamed of. She didn't know why she was crying and it seemed beyond stupid to not have a reason.

'Hey,' he said, concern evident. 'What's the matter?'

'I don't know,' she replied, her voice hinting at a whine.

At the sight of Brennan's amused smile she pulled herself together and managed to form a decent enough glare, complete with the glow of feral eyes.

He leaned forward and, wrapping his hand around the back of her head placed a kiss on her forehead. He leant into her, enjoying the warmth that came from her small form.

'We have to talk.'

Her voice was muffled against his chest but he caught the meaning and his heart dropped at the thought that that moment had come. He knew it would, but denial had always been a particular forte of his. He had tried avoiding the entire issue of him and Shalimar but seeing her, illuminated by sunlight he had been unable to control himself. It was like she bought out his wild side to match her own.

'I know,' he replied.

* * *

'Where the hell are Brennan and Shalimar?' Lexa asked, unable to hide her frustration. She knew they had both been through a lot in the past few days but the lights were currently out and only one of Sanctuary's many windows was showing any sign of being any cleaner than it had been when they arrived.

'I think they went to do that thing,' Jesse replied cryptically, his face showing signs of his own unease.

'What thing?' Lexa answered.

'You know, that thing they had to do,' Jesse repeated, his point becoming less vague to the brunette by the obvious over pronunciation of every word.

'Oh, that thing,' she said, getting his point and glancing as subtly as she could at Taylor who was sitting a few feet from them.

Taylor looked up, watching the faces of the two other members of Mutant X. She giggled. 'They're talking,' she said.

Lexa smiled and raised her eyebrows. The girl was a lot quicker than Lexa had ever supposed a four year old could be.

Taylor would desperately have loved to have been a fly on the wall in Shalimar's bedroom. She knew what they were talking about, it had something to do with her but she really needed to know the outcome of the talk. She needed to know what was going to happen to her already screwed up family. She needed to know if she was finally going to have a father. There were so many questions floating around in her mind and it was all she could do to stop them from bursting out. Her calm exterior may have been an accomplished act given her age but it was slowly wearing thin.

Jesse's eyes moved away from the girl. She was currently working her way through a sandwich. They had been forced to buy one for her before leaving the site of the fire, she hadn't eaten in days and, as they had discovered when they reached Sanctuary a lot of the things in the fridge were on their way to being living, moving creatures. He stared at Daveigh. She was sitting not far from the group, but far enough to distance herself. She looked sorry for what had happened but Jesse was of the same mind as Shalimar. He didn't trust her, and he didn't trust the Dominion. In his mind the two things were connected and no matter where she claimed her allegiance lay she had left the CIA because of money, she was a mercenary and a suspicious one at that.

* * *

She slowly dragged her finger across the wall of the room. It was all so dusty and the pattern of the bedcovers were barely discernible through it all but, like the rest of Sanctuary, nothing had changed. She was relieved that her room hadn't been turned into a gym for the rest of them. She had always imagined that they would be so furious with her for leaving that they would burn all of her stuff or something. She was extremely glad that they hadn't taken such measures. The room had been her sanctuary within Sanctuary, the one place she could always come to where everything was okay. Every member of Mutant X had been fantastic at denial at some point, they were pros and she could deny that the world existed when she was in her room.

She bit her lip, her mind working out how she could approach the subject of Taylor and the lie that she was so ashamed of. It was difficult to know exactly how to begin. She hadn't informed Brennan of the existence of his daughter in the manner she had wanted to. It had been blunt and she didn't want this conversation to go in the same direction. It was too important, he was too important for that to happen.

'I'm sorry,' she said, turning to look at him.

'I know,' he replied. He shut the door behind him with his heel, ensuring that they wouldn't be interrupted.

'You remember we talked about kids when we were together,' she began, watching as realisation appeared in his eyes. 'You thought it was just another hypothetical talk about things that weren't going to affect you for a while but at the time I was pregnant and when you said you couldn't see yourself as a father I didn't know what to do. And I'm not blaming it all on you,' she covered as a defensive look began to form on Brennan's face. 'I'm the one who did the wrong thing by not telling you and by not sticking around but I panicked and then I ran and then I couldn't come back.' She frowned as she realised that she had been rambling for a good few minutes. Her coherent explanation of her own actions all those years ago was a concept so far away from where her brain was currently at. She wanted to shut up but her mouth wouldn't stop moving. Eventually her voice faded out mid sentence and she looked at the ground, the merest hint of a smile flitting across her face as she waited nervously for him to say something.

After a while the wait became too unbearable and she looked up at his face. He was staring at the wall but wasn't really seeing it. She, for once didn't have a clue what he was thinking. Normally she could read Brennan just like he could read her, the benefit of having worked and lived with someone for three years. But at that moment his thoughts were blocked from her mind.

He was once again finding it so difficult to stay angry at her. He knew he should have shouted and ranted about how she shouldn't have lied to him and how she should have told him the truth, no matter how hard it was. He couldn't even pretend to fully understand what she had been going through but he found himself feeling sorry for her. It was one of the most annoying character traits of Shalimar: her ability to make him love her. And the most annoying part was that she didn't even know she was doing it, it just happened.

She walked to a chair which stood in the corner of the room and perched on the edge, aware of quite how much dust she would be collecting on her ass. She leant forward and, placing her elbows on her legs put her head in her hands. She felt him kneel down in front of her but refused to raise her head to face him. He grabbed her hands in his own and pulled them away from her head, looking into her eyes with all the love he could never hide from anyone.

'This wasn't how my life was supposed to end up,' she said matter of factly.

He laughed openly before turning around and sitting on the floor, leaning against her legs. She bent forward and rested her chin on the top of his head, smelling the smoky mustiness of his hair. None of them had showered yet due to Lexa's hectic cleaning schedule.

'I'm serious,' Shalimar insisted. 'I was supposed to live a normal life, one where the biggest complication was working out whether I was gonna buy sliced bread or the kind where I'd cut it myself.'

'It would obviously be sliced cos you're lazy as hell,' Brennan replied.

He flinched slightly as her hand slapped against his arm. It felt good to have the old banter back. He had missed verbally sparring with her over the smallest of things, they had always been good at it, mostly because it came naturally to them. But then things had become serious and they had both been forced to grow up. It was nice to know that they could still do the mature adult thing without losing what had once been.

'What's up?' Brennan asked, turning around to look at her.

'I was thinking about Taylor, and I also want some toast,' she said with a frown.

'Well the toast issue is easy enough to deal with,' Brennan replied with a smile. The Taylor situation was something that had been bothering him as well. 'Do you think Taylor knows what's going on?'

'Brennan, she's four years old,' Shalimar answered. 'Of course she knows what's going on.'


	14. Chapter 14

Its currently 3:29 in the morning and I've only just got back from a club so you'll have to forgive me if this message isn't really all that coherent. Just consider yourselves lucky that I'm updating at all.

Thanks, as always for the reviews, they are extremely appreciated and Steph, I'm not currently able to write some feedback for chapters 4 and 5 but that situation will be rectified by about 1pm tomorrow when I drag myself out of bed. I loved chapter 4 and have yet to read chapter 5 but am really looking forward to it and will definitely send you an email tomorrow...hopefully I'll have a chapter to send you then as well.

* * *

'I'm done,' Brennan called out to no one in particular as he walked into the main room of Sanctuary. The lights were back on, hopefully a permanent fixture; the computers were buzzing and clicking and occasionally beeping which he assumed to be a good thing. Everything electrical in the building was back to its usual working standard. He felt sufficiently proud of his job. He had been working all afternoon and into the evening, trying to find the right connections and locating wires that were past their best. And now he had finished. His Lexa assigned task was over and he could get back to being really lazy.

He looked around and, seeing nobody in the near vicinity walked over to the couch, newly cleaned by Jesse and flopped onto it, his feet, hanging over the armrest, the only visible sign that anyone was even in the room. He closed his eyes, shutting out the glare of the overheads. He almost regretted putting them on in the first place. Sanctuary had always favoured atmospheric lighting but it still looked way more beautiful with candles dotted around the place, casting their faint glow over everything within range.

He listened to the faint sounds coming from around the building. The whirr of the air conditioning, the slow trickle of water which had been turned on by the electricity, the distant sounds of people talking. He thought he could hear Jesse and Lexa in the lab, making sure that everything was still in working order, seeing if they needed to order anything in from the CIA, Mutant X's resident delivery service.

He opened his eyes at the sound of footsteps, far away but getting closer. As he sat up Daveigh walked into the room. She was looking around her, lost maybe or just trying to avoid every other member of the team. He could understand where her mind was at: she didn't want to be in the outside world where the Dominion would have no trouble finding her and taking her and then punishing her; but at the same time there were far greater evils within Sanctuary, Shalimar being one of them. Every time Daveigh walked into a room Shal looked like she was going to rip the woman's throat out and Brennan could understand that. Making an effort to be civil to Daveigh was too much even for him. He didn't want her in his home, anywhere near his daughter, the same daughter who had almost been killed because of Daveigh's actions. And despite the occasional disapproving look from Lexa about his behaviour he didn't think that was all that unreasonable.

She looked across at him, noticing him for the first time. She had been attempting to find a lonely corner of the building where she could hide herself away. Shalimar and Brennan had been openly aggressive towards her which was something she couldn't fault them for; Jesse was untrusting of her, reluctantly willing to give her the benefit of the doubt for now, but she knew that if she stepped one foot out of line he was going to throw her to the dogs; Lexa was the only one who seemed capable of civility but even that was icy and cold. And the worst part of it all was that she truly was sorry for what she had done. She had been backed into a corner and instead of doing the noble thing and refusing to take on the mission to abduct Taylor she had saved her own skin. She had many regrets in her life but she had a feeling that that was one which was going to haunt her for a little while longer.

He watched as she took him in, his presence clearly unnerving her. The silence resounded throughout the room as she thought about her next actions. He knew there were two possible options. She could turn, walk away, avoid the rest of the team as much as possible until something had been done about the Dominion. Or she could sit down in the chair opposite Brennan and try and rebuild some bridges. He didn't really care which it was but if she didn't sit down it would be just another conversation hanging over his head. He was finally working out all of his stuff, he didn't want awkward things to linger in the background, waiting to raise their ugly heads

'You can sit down if you want,' he offered, wincing as the words came out a lot harsher than he had intended.

She saw the slight cringe and stopped a smile from appearing on her lips. She walked forward, realising that she couldn't reject his offer of civility. Life had been pretty crappy in Sanctuary so far, any offer of hospitality was seriously appreciated. She sat down in the chair, not settling into it, aware that at any moment the undeniable desire to run might overcome her.

'I just wanted to clear this whole situation up a little bit. And if you would mind not interrupting till I'm done that would be great,' Brennan said, his voice less cold.

Daveigh nodded, her eyes wide.

'Okay,' Brennan replied, taking a deep breath, composing himself. He didn't want to suddenly fly off the handle at her, which was a distinct possibility. 'You kidnapped my daughter so you have to understand that you're not my favourite person right now. However, for whatever reason Taylor seems to find the need to protect you. I won't pretend that I get it because I don't. But she's already been through enough and I don't want to make it more difficult for her than it has to be.'

She studied his face, her eyes narrowing slightly as she took in everything. He was putting on a good show, making out like he was capable of being calm when she was in the room. She had been told about the entire Mutant X team in all its different variations by the Dominion and she felt like she knew each of them so well. Brennan wanted to punch her face in, of that she was sure. She had to admit that his behaviour was commendable.

'It wasn't my choice,' she stated for the second time that day.

'Shalimar was right, you always have a choice and you made the wrong one. And you should know that no one in this building, excluding Taylor is ever going to forgive you for that. So, while I may be prepared to take the moral high ground on this one and give you the benefit of the doubt for now, that is all you will get from me. I am not your friend, I am not your ally.'

Daveigh's eyes drifted away from Brennan's face which had gradually taken on a look of pained boredom. She felt her heart skip a beat as she saw the blonde feral staring at her. She maintained eye contact, unable to look away.

'That's your cue to get up and leave the room,' Shalimar said, her voice able to cut steel.

Brennan stood up and turned to walk towards the feral. He knew it was a dangerous situation having them both in the same room. He had made his position clear and he didn't want Shalimar to make hers more obvious that it already was by killing Daveigh.

Daveigh stared at the floor, wishing that it would swallow her whole, suck her in and keep her hidden from the rest of the world, from all the glaring eyes bearing down on her.

'You don't appear to be moving,' Shalimar said again, her voice quavering slightly under the pressure of her intense rage.

'Shal-' Brennan said in an attempt to calm her down.

'No, Brennan, she's only here because we're letting her stay so the least she could do is keep the hell away from me.'

'I am trying,' Daveigh said, under her breath.

'Not hard enough,' Shalimar replied clearly, watching closely as Daveigh looked up. Shalimar inwardly smirked, realising that the woman had been unaware of how heightened a ferals hearing really was.

'You know what? Maybe you should stop hating me and start concentrating on what you're gonna do next,' Daveigh said, unable to control her own temper, as she stood up from the chair.

Shalimar strode forward and forced her fist into connection with the side of Daveigh's head, a slamming noise of bone hitting bone sounding out through the room, echoing into the shadows.

'Don't tell me what I should and shouldn't be doing,' she said quietly, dangerously, her chest rising and falling as she breathed deeply. 'You abduct my daughter for the Dominion and then you expect me to be happy about the fact that you saved her life? You're more delusional than I thought. I don't have to accept your presence here, I don't have to be happy about it and I certainly don't have to put up with you telling me what to do.'

Without even realising it tears had sprung to her eyes, blurring her vision. She felt her chin quiver and she pressed her lips together till the ordinarily pink skin became a distorted shade of white. Her skin was flushed, covering momentarily the pale shade that had taken over. She closed her eyes allowing the tears to roll slowly down her skin, staining it.

Daveigh straightened herself up, raising her hand to touch the blemish that had appeared on her cheek. She looked at the blonde woman and saw the tears.

Shalimar opened her eyes and, as she took in Daveigh's anxious stare pulled herself together. She flashed her eyes quickly, enough to force Daveigh back a step.

'I don't want you here, I would never want you here given what you did to Taylor but an apology, or even an attempted apology might have made it a little bit easier for everyone concerned.'

With that she turned and walked straight out of the room, pausing and hesitating for nobody and nothing.

* * *

Her shaking hand ran through her hair, tugging gently at the tangled strands. Her blood was racing, pushing its way violently through her veins, forcing itself round her body. She couldn't seem to settle, the adrenaline still filling her veins and making her jittery. The smallest noise would cause her to turn sharply, the slightest flash in the corner of her eye and she was set on edge. She had tried lying down but after a few seconds she had stood up and restarted her relentless pacing. She felt confined, trapped in her room with its four walls. She knew she should walk through the rooms of the building, slowly, evenly paced but her movements were annoying her, let alone everyone else. She grabbed her discman and, checking the CD which was currently in it shoved the headphones into her ears. As she pushed the play button music filled her head. She pulled her door open and stalked through it, closing it behind her with a loud click. She didn't care who knew that she was leaving but she hoped that any vibes she might have been sending out were hostile enough to dissuade anyone from following her. She needed to be alone.

* * *

She looked on from her vantage point in the lab. Shalimar stormed past the window, the music blaring from her headphones almost loud enough for it to be heard through the glass. Shalimar's hair was wilder than usual, a clear sign that she was not entirely calm. She walked through the main room of Sanctuary and on through the doorway. Lexa knew where she was going and she also knew that Shalimar probably wanted to be alone but it wasn't safe for her out there by herself, especially not in the kind of mood she was currently in. Lexa turned and walked swiftly from the lab, leaving Jesse with a quick 'I'll be back soon'. She strode across the room, grabbing two coats from the pile that had been left on the couch.

As she walked out of the rock into the outside world she threw one of the coats over her shoulders, relishing the warmth she received from it. The weather had been slowly getting colder and it was bitter, biting at unprotected skin, leaving lips dry and painful and her eyes squinted to look around her. She could see the vague outline of Shalimar as she stood at the edge of the cliff, taking a look around her before turning away from it and striding along the brink. Lexa followed her at a distance, knowing that the feral could half feel her presence already. She didn't want to intrude but Shalimar's sensibilities seemed to have taken a running jump in recent days.

The water was crashing against the solitary exposed rocks at the bottom of the cliff. The sound filtered up towards Lexa's ears and she thought for a second that she could feel the flecks of freezing spray against her face until she realised it was raining. It hadn't come on suddenly, the clouds had been building for hours.

'Of all the times I could have come out, huh?'

Lexa smiled at the blonde woman who was slowly walking towards her.

'Something like that,' she replied, tossing Shalimar's thick coat at her as Lexa noticed the shiver.

'Thanks,' Shalimar said, her voice quiet in the increasingly noisy weather conditions. She looked around her as she shoved the discman into her coat pocket, the warmth tempting her to leave the wild outdoors and go back inside Sanctuary with its central heating and warm water.

'You okay?' Lexa asked as she walked to stand next to Shalimar, both of them looking out on the ocean which was becoming more and more crazed by the second.

'I was kinda wondering that about Daveigh.'

'She's fine, there's gonna be one hell of a bruise on her face tomorrow though.'

'Good,' Shalimar said, not entirely sure if she meant it or not.

'She may turn out to be a good guy,' Lexa said, glancing quickly across at Shalimar, trying to gage her response.

'Yeah, well, she'll always be the person who invaded my life and screwed it all up so I'll have to take that with a pinch of salt.'

'I remember somebody else once did that to you.'

'But you didn't kidnap my daughter and, just so you know the jury is still out on you,' Shalimar replied mockingly. Lexa answered with a shocked expression that brought a grin to both their faces.

'My question still stands,' Lexa prompted.

'I'm okay, I guess. Its just difficult to know what's what right now. I thought I had everything all planned so perfectly. Life was good, in the most normal sense of the word. Taylor was happy and I thought I was too. But then everything happened and now I'm not so sure.'

'Not sure you were happy?'

'Exactly. Being back with Mutant X makes me realise quite what it was that I loved about it all in the first place. Obviously having my daughter abducted is not what I had in mind but the adrenaline rush I get from it all and being back in Sanctuary. Its like I've come home.'

'And I take it that Brennan has something to do with that?'

A smile appeared on Shalimar's face before she could stop it. It was almost instinctual, the mention of his name gave her chills and brought the massive butterflies into her stomach.

'My point is proven,' Lexa said, a shade of smugness to her voice that she couldn't quite get rid of. Shalimar laughed, elbowing Lexa lightly in the ribs.

'Yes, Brennan has something to do with it. But everybody already knew that so don't go thinking that you're special or anything,' Shalimar said.

'So he's the only person at Sanctuary that you're happy to see again?' Lexa asked.

'Well, of course there's Jesse, and I love that Taylor's here,' Shalimar replied, a coy smile on her face as she watched Lexa becoming more and more offended. 'And I really think Daveigh is growing on me-' Shalimar was cut off as Lexa's hand made contact with her arm. They both burst into incorrigible giggles as they walked back across the clifftop towards the door of Sanctuary, the warmth inviting, welcoming in stark comparison to the looming clouds that had completely overwhelmed the landscape.


	15. Chapter 15

I'm so sorry that its been so long between updates but I've been uber busy with uni stuff and life in general. I am starting to sound like such a broken record.

Thank you for all the reviews. They really keep me happy as shallow as that may sound. I've just got some feedback on the penultimate chapter (thanks for that Steph) and so this story should be finished soon. Promise.

* * *

Lexa hated giving speeches. She had always been good at the public speaking thing but she always sounded, at least to herself like she was overly pretentious or completely dumb. It was a thin line between telling people too much and not telling them enough. She could feel his presence behind her, supporting her as she began to speak. If she could have without getting too embarrassed she would have turned around and started making out with him for everything he did for her. Instead she reached her hand back and brushed it against his leg, a sign that she was doing okay.

Shalimar looked out at the group of people assembled in front of her. She recognised some of them from the various places she had entered in the last few days. Some of the CIA agents had been in the building in New York, behind the shop, some had been at the sight of the fire but everything had been such a blur that she couldn't picture any of them clearly. The rest of the Mutant X team was there along with Daveigh, the bruise showing up from across the room. Taylor had been insistent on coming to the meeting but her stubborn streak was not nearly a match for Shalimar's. The girl had been left in a room with a TV set and a couple of books, a situation Shalimar was far from happy with. But there was nothing else to be done with her.

He opened up the sheath of papers everyone had been given, trying to concentrate when all he could think about were the women in his life, specifically Shalimar and Taylor. He didn't want to have to fight the Dominion. There weren't just the risks to think about. The fact that they might all end up dead paled in comparison to his now intense desire to live a normal life. It had never occurred to him before that a normal existence could be just as exciting as the one he had with Mutant X. He had always assumed that it would be boring as hell and it had. Before he joined the team no amount of stealing and crime could satisfy his lust for adrenaline thrills, and life in the four years after Mutant X fell apart had been anything but interesting. But being with Taylor was so much more satisfying and Shalimar was the best thing that had ever happened to him. As strange as it sounded to him he wanted to live the life that had always repulsed him on some level. He looked across at the blonde. She was staring intently at the documents held in her hands, her eyes scanning quickly. He could imagine living without her, but in that figment he was falling apart.

'So, which do you propose we go for?'

Lexa looked up at the agent who had spoken. The CIA had the locations of five buildings across North America. Each location was different from the next, the majority of them high rise buildings in the centre of a city and on many of the floors could be found lawyers and accountants but on some of those floors the Dominion had set up shop. The initial plan was to hit one of the buildings with all the force the CIA had. They would invade, confiscate all computer equipment and capture as many Dominion employees as possible, including one of the five members of the Dominion council. But the truth was Lexa didn't have a clue which building they should aim for. Her position on the Dominion was hardly objective and if she could have she would have said to blow them all off the face of the earth, screw the risk to human life. She was not the only one who wanted to see the Dominion gone forever. But, attacking all five buildings would require simultaneous operations in five different cities and there was no way Lexa could call up that kind of manpower, and no way her supervisors would let her try.

'There are obviously benefits to taking apart each of them,' Jesse said, standing up and walking to Lexa's side. He knew she was uncomfortable with talking in front of numerous people and although he was possibly more so he could sense her discomfort at being put on the spot. 'The building in Houston is large and the Dominion control the largest number of floors. It has the potential to be a more advantageous target to us given that out overall objective is to stop the Dominion permanently. We take apart that cell and it'll presumably take the Dominion more time to repair and rebuild. But the truth of the matter is that we have no idea what exactly is contained inside each facility. It could be that the smaller cells are more important. It would be ideal if we could take them all out of the game but we don't have that kind of manpower, not if we're going to be making a direct attack.'

'What do you mean by direct attack?' Shalimar asked, an unapologetic frown on her face. She didn't have a clue what most of these people were talking about but if she was going to have any part of the assignment she was sure as hell gonna make it her mission to find out.

'A direct attack would entail everyone in this room going into the building. It wouldn't be as covert as an indirect attack,' Jesse explained.

'But surely that's more dangerous than an indirect attack.'

'There are risks, of course but there's more danger to a small group of people infiltrating the building. This way we don't risk the lives of too many agents.'

'That's crap,' Shalimar replied, her voice rising as she lost control of her temper. 'No offence to the system around here, I'm sure its worked extremely well in the past but there are now five new mutants on this team, one of which can actually become invisible and another who imitates that particular trait pretty damn well. And what happens once you've taken out one building. It'll give the other cells time to get the hell away from potential trouble and then we'll never stop the Dominion.'

'Well, do you have better plan in mind?' one of the more senior agents piped up, a sceptical look on his face.

'There are five separate buildings, all of them with intricate blueprints in that file you're holding there. Conveniently there are five new mutants, all of them with the ability to take out a good few people. You send in teams headed up by us, five teams all hitting simultaneously.'

'That's crazy enough that it might actually work,' Lexa muttered.

'I still say its too dangerous. We hit one building and the Dominion gets the message that we're completely serious about dealing with them,' Jesse said.

'Or we take out all five locations and then we don't have to show them anything because they're all in custody or dead,' Shalimar said. Her voice rose above everyone else's, her jaw locked when she had finished speaking, her fist clenched tightly around the papers. 'I'm fed up of making pathetic little moves against these people while they run around acting like they own the world,' she declared before throwing the folder down onto the table and storming from the room. The action had clearly ended the meeting, everyone too uncomfortable at her outburst to talk anymore. Brennan walked over to Jesse and Lexa.

'She's under a lot of stress at the moment,' Lexa said, hoisting herself onto a tabletop. 'She didn't mean to shout at you.'

'But she's right isn't she?' Jesse replied. 'We've hardly been the Dominions biggest threat.'

'What are you talking about? We've taken down some of the key members of the Dominion. They're scared and what makes it worse for them is that they know we're coming. When we took back Taylor we sent a clear message, one that they won't have missed out on.'

'She may not be right about everything but she may have a good plan in the making,' Brennan said, taking a seat next to Lexa.

'You mean about hitting the five different targets all at once?' Jesse asked, already knowing the answer.

'Yeah. If small teams are sent in, all of them headed up by a new mutant then not only can vital information be gained but the facilities can be taken apart from the inside. We can't blow the buildings up but surely if we dismantle their system it'll stop them.'

'So, we go in, we dismantle their computer systems. Simple enough,' Lexa countered. 'But what do we do with all the people? Small teams can't take everyone into custody.'

'And haven't you always said that not everyone who works for the Dominion is evil. What's the bet that all of the lower level employees know nothing about what the Dominion's really doing? It says in the file that there are five members of the Dominion council left, each of them heading up one of the five buildings. You send in a new mutant and they can take care of the council members while some of the CIA guys deal with the computer stuff.'

'You're actually being serious, aren't you?' Lexa asked.

'I am.'

* * *

Jesse gently pushed open the door to the office, taking in the sleeping twosome. They were on a sofa, both looking like the ferals that they truly were. Shalimar was curled up in the foetal position with her back pushed against the back of the couch, Taylor was lying with her back to Shalimar, fitting into her. Shalimar's arm was wrapped around her daughter and he could see the gentle rise and fall of her chest from where he stood by the door. He closed it quietly behind him but not quietly enough for Shalimar. Her eyes shot open, the fear that at any moment Taylor could be snatched from her once more not alleviated even in one of the top security buildings in the country. She looked around her, her heart beating so hard and fast she thought it was going to jump right out of her mouth. As she took in Jesse she became instantly relaxed. She slipped out from between Taylor and the couch and stepped lightly across the floor towards her brother. When she got close enough she opened her arms, her bottom lip quivering, needing the support of the one guy who would never run from her. He pulled her into an embrace that had been a long time coming. They held each other, Shalimar's legs weakening and her arms holding tight around his neck. She rested her head against his chest, hearing his heartbeat, feeling it through his shirt. He rested his chin against the top of her head, allowing himself the opportunity to really look at the little girl on the couch.

'Okay,' he whispered.

Shalimar pulled away from him, looking straight into his bright blue eyes. 'Okay what?'

'Okay, we'll do it your way.'

* * *

'There will be teams of three people, each of them focusing on one building. One of you will gather all the information you can from the Dominion's computer system which will obviously involve a lot of hacking, and the second agent will watch your back. The new mutants in the team will locate and capture a Dominion council member. There will be, we suspect a lot of information to extract so you'll have to work fast. Any questions so far?'

'Whose teams are we on?' called out an agent from the back of the room.

'That information is enclosed in the folders being handed out now. All the data in those folders is case specific so you will have to get together as a team to talk about how exactly you're gonna do this.'

Jesse leant back against the table behind him, having said his bit. He was relieved that the whole process was at last getting under way. And he would be eternally happy when it was all over. As happy as he was to have Brennan and Shalimar back in his life the circumstances were kind of putting a damper on the reunion.

Brennan flicked through the sheets of paper he had just been handed. There were a lot of them, many he didn't understand, some he did. His building was the biggest, the building in Houston. He felt proud but he wasn't sure why. He shouldn't have been happy about getting one of the bigger life or death jobs, in fact he got the distinct feeling that he should have turned and ran from the CIA, escaping with his life while he still could. But there was something about the Dominion that always made attacks against them so much more rewarding. It was possibly the fact that they were sadistic murderers but he couldn't be sure.

'So, where are you going?' Shalimar asked.

'Houston. You?'

'Seattle.'

'They like sending us to the farthest corners of the earth, don't they?' he said wryly.

'It'll only be a few hours,' she said, reassuringly, wondering if that really was how long it would take. It hadn't occurred to her before that she might not be coming away from this mission. She had been through so much in her life that she had started taking it for granted that things would simply go her way. But the Dominion was bigger, they were more powerful than Mutant X. Maybe this was one group that couldn't be taken down. Her own mortality came rushing towards her, her inability to beat everything hit her in the chest and winded her slightly.

'You okay?' he asked, concern edging his features.

'Yeah,' she replied.

He didn't believe her. He knew she was hiding something. And he would have loved to have said that it didn't matter but it did, more than she would ever know. He needed to know what was going on in her head because if he didn't the thoughts rushing around in his own skull didn't make a difference.

'We're gonna be okay,' he said quietly, in a voice meant for her ears only.

'I know I've asked before but how exactly do you do that?'

He grinned, the old smile of a guy with the bare minimum of worries in the world. 'That time, sorry to disappoint you was a lucky guess.'

A laugh escaped from her lips, breaking the atmosphere of the room and causing more than Brennan to smile.

'You two okay with Houston and Seattle?' Lexa asked.

'Yeah, any reason why we got those particular cities?' Shalimar asked.

'Pulled the names out of a hat,' Lexa offered, the sarcasm obvious from the slight elevation present at the corners of her mouth. 'Kidding. We tried to suit each building with specific abilities. All of them have different security measures for the main reason that if one person manages to break their way into one building they won't necessarily be able to get into all the others. The Houston location has an alarm system that, we assumed would provide a particular challenge for Sparky here.'

'And I do like a challenge,' he sparred back.

'And the Seattle one has a weakness in that all its ventilation shafts are connected. There's very little room in the shafts but that shouldn't prove to be too much of a problem for Shal.'

'Damn straight,' she affirmed.

'And where are you two going?' Brennan asked.

'Toronto,' said Jesse.

'Washington DC.'

'The Dominion really are pushing their luck setting up in the same city as the government of the United States,' Brennan retorted.

'In the same building none the less. They always did think a little too much of themselves,' Lexa replied.

'And where are we sending Daveigh?' Shalimar asked, a hint at the bitterness she still felt appearing in her tone.

'Denver,' Jesse replied.

'And when do we go?'

'Tomorrow morning, the times differ depending on how far people have to travel. We've got the night at Sanctuary at least.'

Is there anywhere Daveigh can stay for tonight?' Brennan asked.

'She could stay here. Its a secure facility and there'll be people around all night. She could take my office. Why?' Lexa said.

'We all know the risks of this mission. Its gonna be dangerous and some of us might not be coming back,' Brennan said, his tone matter of fact. 'And as hard as that is to accept I would rather deal with that possibility and spend one last night at Sanctuary with the people I love around me than deny it and treat it like any other night.'

He glanced down at Shalimar's small hand as the fingers intertwined with his own. He could feel it shaking, a marked difference between the hand and her facial expression. His grip tightened, an attempt at making her feel better, reassuring her that she was going to be okay, that they were all going to be okay, but he couldn't help the frown that appeared. It was hypocritical to tell her something he didn't truly believe himself.


	16. Chapter 16

Thanks to all of you who have reviewed the last few chapters. Despite my inability to update when I sayI will I hope you review again.

* * *

Laughter filled the air of Sanctuary, it soaked into the walls which had heard no sound in so long. Music lingered as a background to the eventual reunion of family. The sound of glasses and cutlery clinked out in the near darkness. The halls were illuminated only by the dim lights set into the walls. The sound of water trickling into the pool added to the gentle swish of the leaves of a plant, sat in the direct flow of the air conditioning.

Taylor watched from the upper floor, hidden from the view of the adults. She had been ordered to go to bed by her mother but she couldn't sleep, the nocturnal instincts of the feline becoming stronger by the day. She had crept out of her room onto the top level, overlooking the main room of Sanctuary and had sat, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders as the Mutant X team shared what could possibly be their last night together. She watched until sleep overcame her and she could keep her eyes open no longer. She smiled as she saw her mothers head drop onto Brennan's shoulder. His arm moved up her back and around her, pulling her closer and with a wide grin Taylor stood and walked back to her room, happy in the knowledge that she might at last get that normal existence that had so far escaped her.

Shalimar's ears twitched at the tiny patter of feet behind her. She smiled as she heard the sound of a bedroom door quietly sliding closed. Looking across at Jesse and Lexa and feeling Brennan's heat radiating onto her own body she felt completely at peace. There was nothing that could ruin this moment, it was all hers and she was going to treasure it for ever. It would be the one thing that she would think of at night when she was happily stuck in that phase between sleep and awake; the next time she had an argument with someone she would think of this and it would make her smile; and tomorrow, when she went to face her own destiny she would hold it close to her, never letting it out of her sight because if she did lose track of it she knew she would lose her hope as well.

He held the glass of wine up to his lips and stared, unashamedly at the couple in front of him. There had been a time when he had been beyond jealous of them. They had this epic love, one of the kinds that people would write books about and form movies around and hear in the lyrics of songs. He had never had that kind of love, had never experienced its power and it had made him envious of them. But that time had passed. He had realised that there was more than one kind of love in the world, there were millions, none of them less worthy of books and films and songs than the epic variety. What he had with Lexa was beautiful in its own way. They trusted each other so completely and they never found that they were at a loss for words with each other and, the fact of the matter was that he had never met anyone who made him feel so alive. She didn't complete him because he was whole already but she made him want to be a better man which he figured was as good as. He reached out for her hand, gripping it tightly, knowing that she was as happy as he was.

'We should probably get some sleep,' Lexa said, her voice expressing the contentment they all felt.

'Yeah, we got quite the day ahead of us tomorrow,' Brennan answered, regretting slightly that he had raised that issue at all. It was real and they all knew it was coming but there was no need to think about it anymore than they had to. Tomorrow was a new day and a new life.

'Lets go,' Shalimar said, pushing herself off the couch with a groan. She turned around and hauled Brennan up to a standing position with her.

'You guys coming?' she asked, looking down at them.

'I'm just gonna tidy this stuff away,' Lexa replied.

'Goodnight,' Shalimar said, walking from the room with Brennan close behind her.

'Do you think they'll be okay?' Jesse asked after they had left the room and were out of earshot.

'Its taken them a long time to get here,' Lexa replied. 'If the thought of all the years wasted doesn't make them value what they've got then I'm pretty sure Taylor will.'

Jesse smiled as he carried two of the wine glasses through to the kitchen. He placed them down on the counter and turned in time to see Lexa through the doorway pulling her hair up into a high ponytail, tendrils of dark hair hanging down her back. She stretched her arms above her head, her eyes closed before picking up the remaining glasses from the table and bringing them through into the kitchen.

'What?' she asked with amusement as she caught him looking at her.

'You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen,' he said in wonderment, as if only noticing it for the first time.

She looked down, never having been too good at accepting compliments, especially not when put so frankly and sincerely. Raising her eyes from the ground she walked across the floor towards him, each step taking far too long as far as they were both concerned. She reached her hand out and placed it over his heart, feeling the pulsing beat against the flat of her hand. He raised his hand and placed it underneath her chin, lifting it up till she was looking into his eyes and then leant downwards pressing his lips against hers, gently, softly, without any kind of presumptions about where it would lead.

Gradually it became deeper, both of them reaching for each other, wrapping themselves around each other. He was pushed against the counter behind him, her arms tightening their grip around his neck, standing on tiptoe. Their bodies melded together, both of them seeking solace from each other in a way they had never needed to before, both of them desperate for the touch of another human being who was sharing what they were feeling, both of them feeling love that would never be destroyed even if their bodies were turned to ash.

* * *

Shalimar smiled to herself as she looked down at the sleeping girl. She was so peaceful, lost in whatever world her mind had decided to create for her that night. Her breathing, slow and steady reassured Shalimar, put her mind at ease. She had always been so worried that Taylor would hate her for ruining her life, that she would be angry at the thought that she was so very different from everyone else but Taylor had embraced her abilities, her gifts. She had delighted in them almost, her young age providing innocence through her lack of experience. There were so many things that Shalimar did and would regret in her life but raising Taylor to know exactly where she came from was not one of them. Shalimar had told Taylor about Brennan, Genomex and the Dominion, she had tried to keep back as little as possible. One of the things Shalimar did regret was what had happened since she had been dragged back into her old life. Taylor had been placed in all kinds of danger and now she might have to suffer more because the next day both her parents were going into situations which could get them killed.

Shalimar ran her hand through Taylor's blonde hair, staring down at her, drinking the sight of her in.

'We should get some sleep,' Brennan said, kneeling down on the floor next to the bed. He didn't want to leave Taylor either, he would have stayed watching her all night just to make sure that she didn't want for anything. But he hadn't been wrong when he had said that the next day would be difficult and tiring and they would all need to be completely focused. And he knew Shalimar, she couldn't focus on only half a nights sleep.

She stood up, taking one last look at Taylor before turning and walking out of the room, stopping at the door as Brennan stood up and placed a single kiss on the girls forehead. She leant against the door frame, taking in the scene, enjoying the relationship that seemed to be unfolding between Brennan and Taylor.

As he turned to face her their eyes locked. He walked towards her, each step causing her heart to jump that little bit higher. As he reached her his hand took a hold of hers, pulling her gently with him. The door slid closed behind them as they walked along the hallway, both of them relishing the normalcy of walking along the corridors of Sanctuary. Shalimar may not have been there in a long time but it was still home and she felt more comfortable inside the rock than she ever had anywhere else.

She felt a thrill of nervous emotion shoot around her body as they reached her room. She wasn't entirely sure how this was going to work. She knew what she wanted and she had the feeling that Brennan wanted it too but it seemed wrong, it felt like the wrong time. She was tired, she needed to sleep and she wanted to sleep with him.

'I'll see you in the morning then?' Brennan asked, looking down at Shalimar's upturned face.

'Don't go,' she replied quietly. She saw the look in his eyes change and opened her mouth to clarify her intentions but just as he always did he pre-empted her.

'We'll sleep,' he said, his hand grazing against her cheek.

She smiled before sliding the door open with one hand. She walked through and he followed, both of them sucked up in the darkness of the windowless room.

Night and silence settled over Sanctuary like a cloud, covering everything within and without the mountain. Movement ceased as the team slept, each of them caught up in the world inside their minds, the occasional flutter of covers the only thing to break the atmosphere that descended upon the inhabitants, all of them trying to stall the inevitable showdown.


	17. Chapter 17

Shalimar looked around at the world spread out below her. The rotary blades of the helicopter sped around above her head, the noise deafening. Everything that had happened since she had woken up had been overwhelming and it didn't look like that was going to change anytime soon. She smiled at the memory of Brennan's arm around her waist, his chest pressed against her back. Her hand had been holding onto his throughout the night which had been, thankfully filled with dreamless sleep. Her eyes had opened easily, the exhaustion that had built up over time sliding away from her because of the contact with old friends and the comfortable bed that she had found herself and Brennan in. She had slipped out from between his arm and the sheets and had padded across to the bathroom. Her face seemed less pale than it had been, more colour in the cheeks, the eyes brighter, a spark lying in them that had been too long absent. She had showered and by the time she left the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her, her hair dripping silently into the material Brennan had been awake. It had been like old times, the connection re-established. His lips against hers had made her stomach flip and her knees lose their strength just like they had when he first kissed her. Her arms had stole around his neck, pulling him down to her level. Eventually they had pulled apart, and for that moment, when they stared into each others eyes everything had seemed hopeful. All the bad things that had happened, all the bad things that were to take place disappeared, none of them mattering.

But now it all mattered so much. The contrast in the two emotions was what was overwhelming her. How could she have gone from blissfully happy with her wonderful boyfriend (she supposed that was what he was now) and her beautiful daughter and her great friends to completely distraught at the thought of what could happen over the space of the next few hours? Her state of mind made very little sense to her but as she looked down at the ground below she noticed the city of Seattle coming up on her left side. Surrounded by mountains and water as it was it looked picturesque. Shalimar would have loved to have been a tourist, taking a sightseeing tour in a helicopter, just checking out the view. But her perfect eyesight caught almost instantly the tallest building in the city. The Bank of America Tower was in the central business district and at 937 feet it was daunting to say the least, even from the sky. The blueprints were still fresh in her memory. She could remember exactly where she could easily gain access to the ventilation system but that wasn't the part that worried her. It was everything that came before that that was freaking her out.

* * *

Jesse hadn't wanted to say goodbye. He guessed he wasn't alone in that but the feeling of detachment from everything he knew had become more intense now that he was standing outside the building he was supposed to be infiltrating. It was the Canada Trust Tower in Toronto. Owned by the Brookfield Properties Corporation it was a home to lawyers, accountants, and an organisation with the main objective of world domination. It made perfect sense, he thought wryly.

He turned to the two men behind him, both of them agents he had worked with before, both of them carrying large black bags full of the kind of equipment only people hacking into major computer systems would need.

'You guys ready to do this?' he asked quietly. They were standing in the relative gloom of the underground parking lot, directly underneath the building, the only light coming from the dim overheads, any illumination they had to offer sucked up by harsh concrete. The plan was that Jesse phase the whole team into the basement level of the building. They would hack into the system to loop the camera feed throughout the building, giving Jesse the chance to make his way undetected to the top ten floors of the building where the Dominion were located. While he was doing that the other two agents would get the data. That was the plan anyway. Jesse had no idea whether it would work or not as he had absolutely no clue what kind of security he would face once he found the Dominion council member. New mutants were a certainty but beyond that he was completely in the dark.

'Ready when you are.'

Jesse turned back to the wall, the nerves beginning to build inside of him, filling him with adrenaline and fear. He didn't want to do this, there was too much at risk and the Dominion were way too big for 15 people to take down no matter how well prepared they were and no matter what kind of resources they had backing them up. Most of all he wanted to hear the voices of his friends, of the people he considered family. In all his years with the CIA he had never taken part in a mission that hadn't included Lexa. This was not entirely separate from her own assignment but the fact that she wasn't asking him if he was ready freaked the hell out of him.

He shook his head slightly, clearing his brain of thoughts unrelated to what was going to happen next. He needed to focus, needed to be clear in his actions. There were too many people relying on him to do his job for him to screw it up by giving into his feelings. The silent pep talk going on in his head became stronger as the silence grew and he gradually felt his heart rate slowing slightly, to a more manageable tempo.

Raising his right hand he spoke into the ring on his middle finger, the one he had never removed and spoke into it.

'Everybody in place?'

* * *

Lexa's new blonde hair moved in the whisper of a breeze that swept across the steps of the United States Capitol building. She raised her hand self consciously to her head, making sure that the hair was still there and that the wig hadn't been swept from her head. Realising that she looked a little ridiculous holding onto her hair like it was some kind of hat she dropped her hand to her side and fiddled with the jacket of her black pant suit, designed to make her look like an aid to a senator. Both herself and the two agents that made up her team had been standing there for a minute and a half, waiting for everyone to get into position. They had been making conversation about a brief of documents that Lexa had been holding, flicking through it all idly, trying to look like they fit in. Fortunately there were numerous suit wearing individuals on the steps of the building along with a couple of tourist and school groups. Lexa was relieved at the abundance of people. Nobody would notice them, which was perfect.

She heard Jesse's voice through her comlink, the sound of him making the ends of her fingers tingle, a talent he had managed to retain throughout their relationship.

'Pulp Fictions ready,' she said as inconspicuously as possible into her own comlink. The code wasn't a complex one, it had mostly involved them all picking their favourite movies.

'Memento's ready,' came Daveigh's voice.

'Starship Troopers ready,' said Brennan, causing a grin to appear on Lexa's face. Trust Brennan to pick one of the worst movies in the history of film.

'True Romance is ready,' replied Shalimar, the amusement at Brennan's movie clear in her tone.

'X-Men 2 is ready.' Jesse's voice came last, his choice clearly ironic. 'Lets do this,' he said, and on the last word Lexa turned and began to walk up the steps towards the front door of the Capitol building, knowing that everyone else was making their own way into their own buildings.

The cool air hit her in the face as she stepped out of the intense sunshine. She blinked quickly as the light changed, aware that there were as many people inside the building as there were outside, relief hitting her again. There was only bustle around her, people moving to and fro, nobody paying any attention to three people with seemingly genuine access cards attached to their jackets. Lexa walked through the immediate crowds, just inside the front doors and once she got through them she quickened her pace, wanting to make sure that she remained on schedule. Her eyes flicked from one thing to the next always keeping an eye on security personnel and cameras just to make sure that she hadn't been detected.

Eventually she turned into a new corridor, just as dim as the one which preceded it. She and the two agents halted in their tracks as they took in the entourage sent to meet them. There were six suit clad men, all of them with earpieces and presumably with holster clad guns attached to their backs. She had hoped that her disguise would have worked a little better but a smirk appeared on her face as she saw a school tour out of the corner of her eye. The entourage was merely going to escort her to exactly where she needed to be.

'Dominique requests that you follow us.'

The smirk disappeared. This was what she had been waiting years for, now it was finally happening.

* * *

Brennan walked across the ornate lobby covered with tiles towards the back of the building where the maintenance elevator was to be located. He reached up a hand to tilt his cap forward even more, hoping to obscure his face from view completely. He could hear the purposeful footsteps of the two agents behind him. He realised with a frown that he didn't even know their names.

One of the agents, a blonde woman, no taller than Shalimar moved forward as a set of double doors became an obstacle to their forward progression. She pulled a plastic card from her pocket and swiped it through the machine allowing them access to the corridors beyond. He heard the click as the fake ID card did its job perfectly. They all walked through, their presence in the building going as unnoticed as if they had been real maintenance workers.

Brennan's pace quickened as they moved out of the sight of any security guards and he made his way swiftly to the elevator. His finger pushed against the button but it was like nothing was moving fast enough for him. Everything was taking too long, elevators, steps, everything feeling like it was wasting his time. Eventually the lift arrived at the ground floor and they all stepped in, surreptitiously looking around them for any sign that they were being followed. But the area was clear.

Brennan leaned against the rail which ran around three sides of the elevator. He had noticed the camera in the upper corner and figured nonchalance and keeping his head low was probably his best bet. The female agent pulled a palm top from her breast pocket and idly pressed a few buttons, looking for all the world like she was merely checking out her schedule for the next week.

'They're looped,' she said after a long moment of silence. Brennan stepped forward and pushed the emergency stop button on the side panel of the lift. The carriage juddered to a halt and Brennan removed the navy blue cap, ruffling his hair as he did so. The female agent pulled a laptop from her bag which she had dropped on the floor next to her feet. She began to hack into the mainframe, her fingers moving like lightning across the keypad.

His eyes rose to look at the display above the lift doors. They had reached the 56th floor, the required destination. The Dominion spanned from the 56th to the 71st floors, the biggest Dominion cell out of the five. He felt kinda useless. The two agents were doing things, clear obvious things, tangible things while he could do nothing but stand there watching them. He really needed something to punch.

* * *

She wanted to turn and run. She didn't want to be anywhere near this building at any point in the near future. If she never had to return to Denver it would be too soon. Everyone had made plans but nobody had bothered to ask her if she agreed with them or if she wanted to go along with them. And the guilt was still tugging at her. She wanted to help, she really did but if there was a job that required slightly less participation from her then she would have eagerly accepted it.

The clicking of computer keys brought her back to the real world. She looked across the room at the door at one end and then turned to look at a door set into the opposite wall. There was no one around but the feeling of dread growing in her stomach wouldn't stop building. It had started forming the night before and with nobody around to tell her that things were going to be okay and no overt displays of tension to take her mind off it all she had allowed it to fester.

The thing that was freaking her out the most was that she had to fight the boss of the facility she was currently in. It hadn't mattered which cell she was sent to infiltrate because she was going to die regardless. She had accepted it already and not because she was a born pessimist. It was a fact to her, she wasn't getting out of the whole situation alive, never had been. The Dominion would be pissed off that Mutant X was taking them apart from the inside out but they would be furious that she had and still was helping them.

And while everyone else involved in the assignment seemed prepared to believe that the Dominion weren't ready and waiting for this she knew better. The Dominion had known this was coming, not a specific time, not a specific date but they had known anyway. They had to have some kind of back up plan. She didn't know what it was, didn't have the faintest clue but she didn't want to be around when they put it into action.


	18. Chapter 18

This is a very Shalimar centric chapter but the next chapter will get back to the rest of the team. Thanks, as always for the reviews and please review this chapter.

Rogue.

* * *

'Good morning Ms Bryant.'

Shalimar turned to find the source of the voice. She found herself staring at a short, rotund, balding man in his late forties. He was wearing a grey suit accompanied by a tie with bright purple polka dots (she successfully hid her grimace) and as he approached her he presented his hand. She smiled confidently, immediately getting into character. She gave him a hearty handshake, amused at the surprise which appeared in his eyes at the strength of her arm.

'Good morning Mr…' She trailed off, enjoying her new role as the incredibly busy, powerful businesswoman. If only he knew that behind the fake glasses and the red wig was a genetically enhanced woman currently working in conjunction with the CIA.

'Tippett,' he offered helpfully before leading her and the two agents, posing as her personal assistants through security in the foyer and then to the elevator. She breathed a sigh of relief as she realised that the man didn't need any encouragement to start talking, reciting the spiel he had used a thousand times before. The bank that took up a large amount of space within the building had been informed that a potential client would be swinging in early that morning, hoping to get the guided tour and a great deal of data from the manager in order to help her decide if she wanted to bring her business to them. It was the perfect cover because it happened so often. The ventilation shafts were placed all over the building, a fact gained from the blueprints and they were all interconnected so it didn't matter where she gained access. Mr Tippett, having just led them all through the main security barriers despite all the slightly odd equipment contained within their suitcases would now take them up, leading them all closer to the Dominion controlled floors. It was a time saving device, being closer to their target before they even started the mission and once they got there it was just a case of distracting Mr Tippett. And Shalimar's outfit was completely up for that job.

'So what business are you in exactly?' he asked politely as the elevator doors closed, shutting out the background noise of chatter and computers.

Shalimar's mind quickly flicked through the brief documents she had been given which had contained her characters entire back story. 'World domination,' she replied.

His eyes widened before Shalimar revealed a brilliant smile. After a moments pause he gave out a little laugh. Shalimar looked over at one of the agents as he raised his eyebrows at her. She missed working with Mutant X. Brennan would at least have had the decency to smirk at her less than appropriate humour.

'But seriously,' she continued, her tone charming, 'I work for a large firm which deals with…' Her own mind wandered shamelessly away from the conversation. She had read the brief so many times over that it was indelibly imprinted on her memory, she didn't even have to think about the words coming out of her mouth.

* * *

'Sir, we have a sighting.'

He looked across the room at the young man sitting in front of a bank of computer monitors. His eyes drifted past him, curiosity taking over in his mind as he looked at the black and white screen the man was gesturing to. He squinted slightly as he walked closer.

'Are you sure its one of them?' he asked, already knowing the answer as he studied the woman's face.

'Yes sir. Her face and gait have been matched by our computer. She's Shalimar Fox.'

'I want security on whatever floor they get off at. Whatever their objective is they're not going to get the chance to follow through,' he said, his voice rising as did his anger and fear. He knew why she had come and it was clear that she was back in with her old crowd, working with Mutant X, probably the CIA too given the groupies she had brought with her.

* * *

The doors slid open silently and Shalimar followed Mr Tippett out of the elevator. She looked up at the ceiling and breathed a sigh of relief as she noticed the ventilation shaft running along white plaster. They walked along the corridor, the two agents behind her both scouting out the area, making sure that there was a completel lack of Dominion agents around. There were none in sight. Now she just had to get the immensely boring banker to run along.

She frowned as she heard a mobile phone ringing from behind her. One of the agents, a tall brunette man, the one who had been so disapproving of her improvisation dug around in his pocket to find the cell and picked it up, his voice loud in the quiet corridor.

After a few seconds he held the phone out to her. 'Ms Bryant,' he said, indicating that the call needed to be taken by her.

'Would you give us a minute?' Shalimar said as she turned around towards the bank manager, a winning smile and a pair of sparkling eyes being aimed in his direction, that he clearly found difficult to resist.

'Of course,' he replied before walking along the hallway, out of earshot, out of sight.

'Find a room with a free computer on this floor. You should be able to get into the system from down here right?' Shalimar asked, her voice immediately becoming more businesslike.

'Yes. You need any help getting in? the brunette asked.

'Trust me, I'll be fine,' Shalimar answered, her voice portraying a confidence that she wasn't feeling. She watched as they turned and ran along the corridor away from her, looking in rooms as they went, their feet pounding the hard surface.

'Here goes,' she said to herself, breathing deeply as her eyes shifted focus from the floor to the ceiling and she began to ubbutton her jacket.

* * *

All around her was the feel of cold metal, a gloom only alleviated by the occasional air vent leading onto yet another room that she didn't want to be near. She had never been claustrophobic but if there was ever going to be a situation that left her with a life long fear this would be it. She had been squeezing her way along the intricate system of ventilation shafts for the past ten minutes and seemed to be getting no further. Her back was aching, her eyes were starting to feel strained because she kept on having to consult a blueprint of the building every time she reached a corner and she could feel a headache building up behind her eyeballs, blasting its way through her brain.

She stopped in her tracks and rolled over onto her side, leaning her chin in her hand. With the other hand she pulled a palmtop from her back pocket and, pressing a few buttons managed to call up diagrams detailing the route she would have to take. Her eyes glowed orange briefly as she scanned through the information. According to the computer she had to keep going straight before she would find a way of going up. In order to go up she had to use the elevators, climbing up the service stairs which were attached to one side of the elevator shaft. Once she got there it would be easy going until she reached her required floor. When she got there she would once again head into the dismal hell that was ventilation. She wasn't looking forward to that part but she quickly pulled herself together, knowing that if she was to have any hope of finishing her assignment and getting out of the building with all her limbs still safely attached to her body she would need to get moving.

As she started crawling once more her mind drifted. She wondered how everyone else was doing, whether everything was still going to plan or whether any of them had been discovered yet. From a page she had received a few minutes after first entering her particular mode of transport she had learned that she had been found out already. There was a high alert sending a good number of security guards to the same floor she had been on. What troubled her was that she was technically still on that floor. There were cameras all over the building and by now people would have discovered her discarded briefcase and glasses lying on the floor of the corridor. Everyone would have spread out, they would all be searching and she felt not unlike a lab rat, trapped in a box, unable to escape, at the mercy of whoever located her. The thoughts quickened her pace and she emerged from the shaft into a large open space. She was standing on a small metal walkway and as she looked down she could see the many floors below her. Anyone else would have turned and crawled as fast as they could away from the daunting sight but Shalimar was not anyone else. She looked around her and located the staircase she would have to use.

Her footsteps echoed through the empty space as she made her way as quickly and quietly as possible to the stairs. She looked down, her eyebrows raised as she again took in the drop that could face her. It wasn't that she was scared of the height, she actually kinda liked the thrill she got from looking over the edge, down at the ground, what seemed like miles below her. Plus she was happy to be given something other than her immediate mission to think about for at least a couple of seconds.

Her seconds over she proceeded onwards and upwards. She had to get to the right floor soon, she had to find the boss of the Dominion institution and she had to force him to give up or take him out of the game completely. It was an intimidating prospect but her adrenaline was starting to pump its way around her system, her body becoming more motivated as time ticked on.

'Shalimar?'

She became suddenly alert of the time period she was working under as she heard the voice of one of the agents on her team over her com link. They must have hacked into the system by now. She had been crawling around behind the scenes for quite some time and they were experts in their field. She had been moving too slowly, been taking too much time to think about things when she should have been doing them. She had wasted so much time.

'What's up?' she replied, running up the stairs two at a time until she reached her desired floor.

'We've hacked into the system. We encountered the kinds of obstacles we expected to come across but we've now finished uploading everything to the CIA database. We're just about to wipe it all from their hard drive but in order to do that we're gonna have to power down the building.'

'Okay, I'm on the right floor. I just have to find the right room now.'

'You're sure you'll be able to find the room with no power.'

She smirked. She wasn't sure if humans would ever fully understand the abilities of mutants.

* * *

Her feet hit the ground and she straightened herself, taking the time to look around her. She was in a long corridor identical to the one a few floors below. She was so happy to be vertical once more, her legs were aching, her back was killing her and she rolled her eyes as the strip lighting on the ceiling flickered once before failing completely. She waited a few seconds before an eerie green glow appeared, illuminating the corridor, the back up generators kicking in. The sounds of computers cut out, and the sound of people beginning to panic cut in. Shalimar looked around her as the noise became louder. People working for the Dominion were starting to come out of their offices, she had to find a particular room. She started jogging along the hallway, looking at the numbers on doors, her eyes searching frantically for the right one. Her heart sped up, her pulse racing with it.

She saw the number, her hand grabbed at the door handle in an attempt to stop herself in her tracks. She pulled up short and pushed the handle down. The door didn't budge and the sounds of people were getting louder.

'Damn it,' she muttered under her breath, looking around her erratically as doors the entire length of the corridor started opening, people spilling out to see what the problem was. Security wouldn't be too far behind them. She pushed the door handle down once more, gasping as it opened and a strong hand pulled her inside. The door slammed behind her and she was left in the room the dark absorbing her, capturing her, dragging her in.


	19. Chapter 19

Her eyes flashed, a beacon in the darkness and she looked around her, immediately locating the man in the far corner. He had backed away from her, knowing exactly what she was capable of. Her eyes narrowed, becoming thin slits of light against the murky background. She knew without even needing to ask who the man was. He was the man that she had an appointment with.

'I know who you are and I know what you're doing here.' The mans deep voice rang out in the room, its low falsetto tones vibrating in her ears.

'Then you know what I'm prepared to do,' she replied, her tone lacking the usual humour of banter that she usually engaged in with the enemy.

She recoiled as the overhead lights were abruptly switched on and she blinked quickly, not wanting to close her eyes for too long, not willing to take them off him for longer than a millisecond. There had been the tiniest amount of information on the bosses of the Dominion complexes. They were enigmas, mysteries and no matter how hard the CIA had searched they could find out nothing but their locations in the specific buildings. As a result nothing was known about their capabilities. Shalimar wasn't expecting a guy with superhuman strength or anything but he had to be able to hold his own or else he would never have dragged a fairly pissed off feral into an office with no kind of back up.

The room was bigger than she had expected. It was long with windows making up one of the four walls, the lights of the city blinking at her through the spotless glass. There was a desk at the far end of the room and a couple of well placed chairs between it and the door. Her eyes scanned the area for anything she could potentially use to beat the guys head in.

'So, do you expect me to give up everything in the face of your unwavering courage?' the man asked.

She looked him straight in the eye before bursting into laughter. A smile filled her face and loud giggles erupted from her throat. 'I get it,' she said between breaths, 'you're making fun of me. You know that's a great sense of humour you've got there,' she said before swiftly swinging her right hand across his face. The punch sounded throughout the empty room and the laughter stopped sharply, Shalimar's demeanour suddenly deadly serious.

'Little tip: don't make fun of someone who could and would kill you. Its not altogether smart.' Her whispered threat sounded as loudly in his ears as if she had been yelling.

'Well,' he replied, his breath coming iout in short gasps, 'if you get pissed off by that you probably shouldn't be told that it was me who came up with the plan to kidnap your daughter.'

* * *

Daveigh's eyes darted from one side of the room to the other, her pupils contracting and widening as she looked from the windows to the agents. She knew what the plan had been but improvisation had always been something that was encouraged in her line of work and the strategy formed by the CIA had been concocted by heroes, people who constantly put their lives on the line to save others. She was not a hero. She was, if she was being perfectly honest with herself a mercenary. The money had always been an issue. New mutants may have had super powers but they still needed to eat. And after the initial glow of the Dominion had worn off she had become a victim, trapped by circumstance, her own stupidity and the people who ran the group. She wasn't proud of her actions but she had become a hostage. And she did not intend to get caught again. Going up against the Dominion was fine but she was not ready for the fight they were asking her to take part in.

'We're done with the transference of files,' one of the agents said, breaking the silence causing Daveigh to jump slightly. She had been uncomfortable in her own skin ever since she had entered the building.

'How long will it take to delete everything?' she asked, her voice quieter than usual, any strength and confidence stripped from her.

'It shouldn't take too long but if they know we're here they will try and stop us.'

'How?' she asked. It was a stupid question and she regretted it as soon as it had left the safety of her mouth. The Dominion would do anything to protect what was theirs.

'You had better be ready.'

* * *

'Lexa Pierce.'

Lexa eyebrows raised subconsciously. She hadn't wanted to even acknowledge the presence of Dominique. She had, regardless of how silly and childish it was wanted to remain cool and calm. There was some part of her that really wanted to impress Dominique and, much as she would have loved to have squashed it flat, she couldn't. There was too much past between Lexa and Dominique, in spite of whether or not they had ever met before.

'Don't be too hostile, Lexa,' Dominique continued, her tone hinting at a condescension that made Lexa's blood simmer lightly in her veins.

'And here I was thinking that you were the one being hostile. Do I really need the entourage?'

'I prefer welcoming party.'

'Good for you,' Lexa bit back sarcastically.

Dominique walked forward, out of her office, her heels clicking on the floor, the sound ripping through the tense silence. Lexa felt herself subconsciously rise to her full height, her back straightening, her shoulders roilling slowly back in her sockets.

'Lexa, I believe that we can handle this in a civilised fashion, there's no need for any undue hostility, no reason to draw any attention to ourselves,' Dominique said as she stopped directly in front of the brunette.

'I know what you mean,' Lexa replied, a polite smile on her face, masking any real emotions. Dominique smiled back but it was swiftly wiped away as Lexa wrapped her arm around the woman's neck and moved until she was standing behind Dominique. There was now nothing between her and the office and she raised her free arm, directing her two fingers at the older womans temple, light glowing, reflecting from Dominque's terrified eyes. She squirmed slightly but Lexa gently increased the pressure being applied to her throat.

Her eyes scanned across the men in suits, all of whom now had their weapons raised, ready to fearlessly protect their leader. 'In the interests of me not killing her how about you guys lower those,' Lexa said with a flash of her teeth. She could see annoyance in some of them, the others demonstrating typical signs of fear. Chances were that some of them had never even encountered a new mutant, they had merely heard stories. She almost felt sorry for them. They had been thrown into a world that they didn't belong to and now there was very little chance that they would ever be allowed to leave. They were trapped, just like her.

'Here's the deal,' she continued as they reluctantly lowered their tasers (guns clearly proving too conspicuous), 'I am going to go into this office with my guests and the wonderful host of todays show, Dominique and we are going to lock the door. If any of you try to enter the room by breaking down the door or unpicking the lock I will slowly and with great precision fire a laser beam from one side of her throat to the other. If I see any of you so much as walk past the window I will do the same. And if any alarms go off while we're in that room I will take her apart and you will all win a lifetime out of work.' As Lexa finished she nodded to the agents and they slipped past her into the room beyond. She slowly stepped back, pulling Dominique with her and when they were both safely inside the confines of the office she reached out her foot and slammed the door shut.

'Lock it,' she demanded, releasing Dominique from her choke hold.

The glare Lexa received would have been enough to kill any one of a lesser constitution but she returned the favour. She was enjoying her role as bitch/game show host. Dominique stepped forward, placed her hand onto one of the wood panels and Lexa watched as a beam of green light slid across the wood, reading Dominique's fingerprints as it went. After a while the woman removed her hand and Lexa frog marched her towards a chair. As Dominique sat down Lexa stood in front of her, her hands on her hips, willing to wait for however long it took. She knew Dominique well enough to know that the woman would make some kind of move eventually, pushing her luck. And when she did Lexa was going to be happy to kick her ass.

* * *

The world was spinning on an entirely new axis, things that had once been the right way up were now upside down, colours merged and lines began to blur. Taylor's kidnapping had never left her mind for a second, she was still beyond furious about the whole ordeal but she hadn't ever considered that it would be one persons baby, one persons project presented to the rest of the Dominion council, having to gain their approval. And she had never given one thought to who it was that had masterminded the whole scheme, let alone believed herself to be meeting them in person. Her eyes met his and she smirked. She could see the fear grow in his expression. She was unpredictable and he knew it, she had the upper hand regardless of what kind of powers he had, if he even had any.

'Thank you,' she said, refusing to blink.

'What for?' he replied haltingly.

'You just made this so much easier.'

She raised her left hand, preparing herself to deliver the backhand of a lifetime. She swung her hand down but before it could make contact with his face she felt something grip her wrist. It stopped her short and she blinked in surprise. As the grip tightened she flashed her eyes at him.

'So, not that much easier then?' he asked.

'I guess not,' she replied before she felt herself flying through the air, a breeze brushing past her skin. Time seemed to stand still momentarily, at least until the table met her back. She smashed through the wood, squeezing her eyes shut as splinters crashed around her head. She gasped for breath as the floor slammed into her, smashing her joints together. A groan escaped from her lips as she lay there before she rolled herself over, pain slashing through her chest. She pushed herself up onto her knees before finally getting together the strength to get to her feet.

'You had to be one of the people who fight back, didn't you?' she said, her breath coming out in short gusts as she attempted to fill her lungs.

'Well, it is in the contract,' he replied.

Shalimar turned and frowned at the man.

'What?' he asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

'You know, if you ignore the fact that you're evil and possibly mentally unstable you would almost be okay, what with the sarcasm and all.'

'Are we just gonna stand around and talk about my sense of humour or are we gonna get this thing done today?'

'Sure. But I think I should warn you, I'm going to kick your ass. I have rage on my side.'

'Because of Taylor?' he asked, a hint of repentance sneaking into his tone.

'Well, yeah, but also because I now have wood stuck in my hair.'

Shalimar smiled politely. The banter had been fun, it had lightened the moment, something she had needed after all the dark things that had come before. With the news that this had been the man who had organised the abduction of Taylor she had needed to joke about something. If she didn't she had the feeling she would break down in tears.

But now she knew exactly what she needed to do. She knew what the man was capable of. He had super strength abilities but they were limited. When he had thrown her across the room he had been trying really hard to get her that far and from the look of him he wouldn't be too fast. She could beat him with speed, with a few very quick punches and kicks. He had given her the opportunity to size him up, and she wasn't going to take the fight quite as lightly as she had the banter that preceeded it.


	20. Chapter 20

Only four more chapters to go before this story is over. Just a little warning, the last one isn't written yet and I've left the almost complete version on my home computer which I'm not gonna be able to get near until this coming weekend. Other than that I should be updating daily so please take the time to read and review.

* * *

Spasmodic shivers broke through his body, his wide eyes staring into nothingness, a great abyss that only he could see. There wasn't even fear in them, just this emptiness, like there weren't any emotions that he was capable of feeling. Gradually the shivers became less aggressive, they didn't encompass his entire body the way they had and he slowly slipped away.

Shalimar was destined never to know how much he slipped away. The fight had been hard and she hadn't intended to kill him but in the end it turned out that he believed in something so much so that he would die for it. She couldn't and wouldn't understand how he could believe in an organisation that made people's suffering a part of big business. But she could definitely sympathise with the overall sentiment, with the commitment he felt. After all, hadn't she entered the building with the very same commitment fuelling her heart and brain, making her body move.

There was no blood. That was the one thing about the scene that didn't seem quite right to her. Blood was almost always associated with murder and even though she knew it was a broken neck killing him she still couldn't seem to get her head around the complete lack of colour on his body. Looking at her hands, and seeing them clean didn't feel right. She shouldn't be so clean, she shouldn't escape from the situation so totally unscathed.

Not that she regretted what had happened. She may have been fighting for herself and her family but there were others who would feel the effects of what had happened that day. As she stood up, as she walked out of the room, along the corridor she knew there were people in the world who would thank her for what she had done. But that wasn't what she wanted out of this. As she walked towards the stairs that she would have to descend to reach the outside world she just wanted to see her family. The operation had always been a risky one, they had all known that. The chances of them beating the Dominion were minuscule and yet they had gone in regardless. What was she leaving the building to find? Would they all be dead? If she was the only survivor the concept of carrying on with her life was a distant one. She would live for Taylor but if that was to be her life, living for her daughter and nothing else then she would end up dying an unhappy woman.

The stairwell was dark but her eyes adjusted quickly and she looked down, over the railing at the seemingly endless flights of stairs below her. If she hadn't been so desperate to get back to her world she would have given up then and there, sat down and waited for someone to find her.

She frowned and drew her head back from the edge as she heard footsteps behind her. Loud, pounding footsteps, ones belonging to many feet. She looked around her nervously before taking her first step down. But as she did so she was halted by the sound of numerous doors being slammed further down the stairwell. The slams were followed by shouts, indistinguishable in the tumult of noise and then the sound of more footsteps as people started making their way upwards.

She turned, knowing who they were and what they wanted, grabbed hold of the hand rail and began her long journey up, towards the roof. It was the kind of thing that big breasted bimbo's did in horror movies to get away from the killer and she realised it could potentially put her in even more danger but there was no way that she had come this far to be shot down by some guy in a uniform. She took the steps two at a time, pacing herself for the long haul, occasionally glancing backwards to see if the guards had picked up on her scent yet. Her breath came in short bursts, her pulse quickening, the adrenaline pumping itself to every part of her body, forcing her ever onwards and upwards.

'This is Shalimar Fox,' she said into her comlink as she ran, willing someone to reply, wishing someone into existence at the other end of the signal.

'This is base ops. What can we do for you?'

She had never been so relieved to hear someone's voice in her entire life. It spurred her on as she heard the footsteps below her drawing gradually closer, her voice and the sound of her own steps alerting them all to her presence.

'Get me out of here,' she yelled, struggling to draw enough breath to get the words out.

'We have your location, a helicopter is two minutes away from the helipad on the roof of the building.'

'Two minutes might be too long,' she muttered as she ran up her final flight of stairs, smashing into the door that would let her out onto the rooftop. She pushed against it, whimpering as it refused to budge. She could sense the Dominion security getting closer, the sound of their guns slapping gently against them as they ran. She breathed in deeply, taking a step back before slamming her small frame into the metal. It gave way and she was thrown out into the cold wind that blew across the roof. She stepped out, shutting the door behind her, hoping that it would stick for the men as it had for her, stalling them, affording her some more time.

She looked around her, the open space a relief after having been stuck in every cramped, confined space the building below her had to offer. Her eyes darted from one stretch of the sky to the next but she could see nothing. There was no helicopter on the horizon for her eyes to pick up, any sounds lost in the intense wind.

Her neck twisted as she heard the banging of something crashing into the door. A second crash sounded through the metal and then the door flew open, bashing into the wall behind it. Men, dressed all in black, with helmets and more black covering their faces jogged out into the space, cutting off her only escape route. She couldn't work out how many of them there were but there was no way she would be able to fight any of them. She could feel the laser sights, the bright red dots burning into her chest and skull as they raised their weapons.

It was over. She slowly raised her hands above her head, quelling the shivering that seemed to have taken over her nervous system. After everything that had happened this was how her ordeal was going to end. She was going to be shot down on a roof, not given the chance to see her family, her friends ever again, not given the chance to say goodbye. She raised her chin defiantly. Fighting may not have been an option but she was not going to go down whilst looking at the ground.

Her head turned slightly as the sound became more distinct. Against the wind it was faint even to her, to the men in front of her it must have been nothing. But to her that faint noise was the sound of hope, it was the sign she needed to know that the fight was still going to be fought. A smile spread over her face, she couldn't help it. Her life was being handed to her on a plate.

She watched as the body language of the men changed. Their guns lowered momentarily as they took in the sight behind her. As she continued to watch them, too scared to turn her head she saw the flash of electric blue shoot over her and hit the front line. They fell and she looked over her shoulder, her saviour hanging out of the doorway of a helicopter. She breathed, trying to summon the courage to run.

As her legs started moving she heard a shot ring out, saw the helicopter falter slightly, move backwards, further away from the edge of the rooftop. It was too far. She couldn't jump it and hope to survive.

She looked up, her legs still moving and their eyes met. He was going to save her, she knew it. She could see the wide gap between the building and her safety and her heart leapt into the back of her chest via her stomach. She took a small jump onto the low rail that surrounded the roof, using it to push off. She could feel herself flying through the air, the wind ripping at her hair. She reached out her arms, her fingers splayed and felt his hand wrap around her wrist. Her shoulder jolted, she was winded as she slammed into the hard metal of the landing gear at the bottom of the helicopter but she was soon in the vehicle itself, watching as the rest of the world disappeared, the helicopter taking flight across the city, the bright sun glinting against its windows.

* * *

'You don't really think you can win, do you?' asked Dominique, looking Lexa straight in the eye.

'Oh God, please tell me we're not gonna do the talking thing,' Lexa replied, holding the older woman's stare.

'You can make out like this is all just some trivial matter but I know you better than that Lexa.'

'My friends call me Lexa. You are not one of them,' she bit back. She was finding the situation increasingly boring. Time was passing by too slowly and she was losing all patience with it. She knew that there were still Dominion assigned bodyguards waiting outside the room, she was certain that some kind of alarm had already been activated despite her previous threats. She wasn't stupid and she knew that a noose was slowly tightening around her neck.

Her whole life had been leading up to this moment, the point where she got the chance to confront Dominique, to talk to her about everything. But, as things so frequently did the situation wasn't quite what Lexa had expected. After all the years of imagining what she would say to the woman, Lexa suddenly realised that she had nothing to say. There were no words to describe Dominique, nothing Lexa could ever say to her that would make her feel some semblance of guilt, regret about the things she had done, the things that had been instigated by her. Lexa didn't even mind. She had been given the chance to look the woman in the eyes, to gaze into those orbs and she realised now what she should have known all along. Dominique was not going to change for Lexa or the CIA. She was who she was, it would be futile to even try.

It would have been a bleak ending to the whole tale if that had been what Lexa was left with but it turned out that she was also unchangeable. She was who she was, and it didn't matter if it was Dominique or Eckhart or the newest villain of the week. Lexa Pierce was going to fight. She was going to fight because there was nobody else who could do it, because if that wasn't her purpose then what was, but mostly because she was one of the good guys. Her motives may not always have been perfect, her missions may not always have turned out quite the way they had been planned but Lexa was part of an elite group, a group of people who risked their own lives so that others could live. She had been given powers, ones that she didn't always appreciate but ones that she was going to use to help.

'I could be your greatest friend, if you let me.'

The brunette turned. She knew what was being offered. A life with the Dominion, a life fighting for the other side. She smiled, a genuine, open smile.

'Tempting, isn't it?' Dominique said, misreading the look.

'No,' Lexa replied. 'And that's what none of you get. I'm different from you, all the members of Mutant X are. And your biggest mistake was placing me with them in the first place. They're good people, the kind that give everyone with any compassion, any humanity hope that there is something more that we were born for. Are you done yet?' she asked, turning to the two men at the computer.

'Just finishing…now,' one of them declared triumphantly. 'We can go.'

'One minute,' Lexa said, allowing them to take her place in front of Dominique. She raised her right hand, drawing the beams of orange light to her fingertips before pointing at the computer. Sparks flew as the machine exploded, plastic shrapnel bouncing off the walls.

'Now we can go.'

'You'll never get out of here alive,' Dominique said bitterly, her face contorting itself into a grimace.

'We don't get out of here alive and neither do you,' Lexa replied. 'So you'd better call off your security team.'

Five minutes and a lot of manoeuvring later Lexa, the two CIA agents and Dominique were standing on the steps of the Capitol building, Lexa's glowing fingertips positioned next to Dominique's throat. The sun was still shining, its rays warming everything they touched.

'So what are you going to do with me now?' Dominique asked.

'That nice team of CIA agents standing on the other side of the road are going to place you in a CIA holding cell to which I have a copy of the key. Enjoy your sleepless nights,' Lexa replied.

She watched as Dominique was taken away. And for once she didn't feel angry about everything. All the things that had happened over the years seemed to melt away around her. She had no reason to be angry, no reason to feel bitter. Everything was resolving itself.

Her thoughts, not for the first time that day flew towards her team mates. She had no idea how they were doing. Seeing Dominique taken away had made her complacent about everything else that was going on. She had completely forgotten that she might not have a team to go back to.

'How long are you going to stand there for?'

Her eyes lit up at the sound of his voice and as she turned she felt his strong arms wrap around her, pulling her close. She could feel his heartbeat through his shirt. Tears filled her lower lids, threatening to spill over, her legs wavering, not sure whether they could successfully hold her weight for one second longer.

Her eyes looked straight ahead of her. Standing in front of a car was Brennan, his face and arms bearing his battle scars, but his shoulders less burdened than they had been since the reunion. Next to him, sitting on the hood of the vehicle was Shalimar, bruises staining her pale face with colour, a bandage with the red spot of persistent blood strapped to her shoulder, her chest heaving deeply as she tried to breathe. The battles had been hard, they had taken their toll on the individuals involved and Lexa's heart went out to her team mates, her friends, her family, but at least they were all still alive.

* * *

The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, violating her taste buds. She tried to draw breath but found the action impossible. She had no idea what the anatomical reason for that was but at that point in time it hardly seemed relevant. She was going to die, probably already was. There was no one to save her, nobody who could help.

She turned her head to the left, feeling the hard floor beneath her aching back, her neck protesting violently. The mangled body of one agent was lying a few feet away her, a metal pipe, covered in blood the guilty culprit; the other agent was lying further away, a pool of blood forming beneath his head where the bullet had embedded itself into his skull. There had been no chance of survival for them, just as there was no chance for her.

Her head rolled back until she was looking up at the ceiling. Her vision was becoming blurry, her eyelids moving slower, becoming heavier. She could sense him moving closer. She squeezed her lips together to stop her chin from quivering with the effort of keeping the tears in. She looked up into his face. It was hard, cold, uncaring and she knew that the moment had come. She raised her arms, all the strength she had left within her being used up in the simple action.

'What? You wanna fight back? You want me to be merciful?' he taunted.

She closed her eyes, willing her lungs into action.

'Now I am free,' she whispered, her final act of defiance as her body was consumed by all the flames that she had held inside of her for so long. They overwhelmed her, breaking across her skin and for the first time in her life she gave herself up to it, for the first time feeling the heat, bearing the full weight of her gift.


	21. Chapter 21

Sorry its been a while. Exams are a bitch and while I may only have one to revise for its still pretty much taking up all of my time that isn't already consumed with sleep, food and the kind of work that pays. I still haven't finish the last chapter of this story for the same reason but will try and get it done soon. Thanks for the reviews. I really do appreciate that you take the time out of your lives to give me some feedback.

* * *

He watched the couple, both of them so happy and relieved to be, once again in each others arms. Lexa looked tired and the sun was catching in the tears that she was finally letting herself shed. She didn't look hurt but with Jesse's arms wrapped around her in the mother of all bear hugs Brennan couldn't be sure.

He raised his arm, taking in the scraped skin which adorned it and ran his fingers through his hair, blinking as a cloud of dust flew into the atmosphere, grouping around his head before being carried away on the light breeze. The weather, he had to admit was perfect for a triumphant meeting of the heroes. He couldn't remember a more beautiful day.

He glanced over at Shalimar. Her escape had been one of the scariest things he had ever had to face. Her running towards him, the bullets flying through the air, the constant beating of the propellers against the wind. But none of that had mattered when his hand had wrapped itself around her tiny wrist. He had felt as her shoulder was wrenched and he knew it had to have hurt when she swung against the landing gear but knowing that he had a hold of her, knowing that, no matter what he would hang on like a rabid animal, it had made him confident in the fact that she was with him again.

When he had finally managed to drag her into the helicopter she had sat next to him, staring into his eyes, her own filled with the shock of the whole situation. She had ran her shaking fingers across his eyelids, his cheeks, his lips, grazing the still fresh cuts that he had received earlier that day. Her touch was so gentle, her fingers so soft despite everything that had happened to her that he had fallen in love with her all over again. And once she had settled down, been reassured that Jesse was okay and that they were going to pick Lexa up soon her serene smile had calmed his heart.

He looked ahead of him as Jesse and Lexa separated from each other and started walking towards them. He looked across at Shalimar again, his nervous, anxious gaze focused on her face. He knew she didn't like to show when she felt pain but her eyes were always a dead give away, showcasing her soul for the world to see.

Her feet touched solid ground as she slid from the hood of the car. She closed her eyes, silently praying for morphine. She opened them again when she felt his hands on her arms, supporting her, holding her close.

'What hurts?'

'Out of the bullet wound, the broken ribs, and the black eye, I'd have to say the ribs right now.'

'Well, if it's the ribs then you should probably stop talking in such long sentences,' he breathed huskily, his voice sending shivers up her spine, the movement only increasing her pain.

'Then you have to stop doing that,' she replied, their eyes meeting, the looks longing.

He bent down, closing the distance between their faces before pressing a tender kiss onto her dry lips. He pulled away, brushing his hand against her cheek, tracing the outlines of the bruises that marred her skin.

'I look great, huh?'

'You could probably use a little concealer,' he replied, grinning at her.

She gasped, mock horror filling her eyes with a glint. She slapped her hand against his arm, glaring at him when pain shot through her aching muscles.

'That was so not my fault,' he replied, laughing and backing away from Shalimar as her eyes glowed, a broad smile ruining the intimidating stance a little.

'Brennan, Shalimar!'

They both turned at the call, watching as Jesse ran towards them. Shalimar's eyes darted beyond the running figure to Lexa. Her eyes were wide as she talked with an agent, a guy in a dark suit.

'What is it?' Brennan asked as Jesse came closer.

'Its Daveigh.'

'What about her?' Shalimar asked. She may not have cared about Daveigh but the mission was important and as a result so was the woman, regardless of her previous actions.

'She was supposed to have checked in by now,' Jesse replied, a hint of panic in his voice. He knew that checking in didn't necessarily mean anything too serious, she could just be busy or have forgotten but having been in the CIA for four years keeping tabs on people had become a crucial part of his everyday life.

'I'm sure its no reason to start panicking. She's probably just doing something else and we'll hear from her soon,' said Brennan.

They all turned to watch Lexa as she walked towards them, her face wearing an expression that was difficult to read.

'The two agents who were with Daveigh haven't checked in either,' she said as she drew nearer to the group.

'They might all be caught up,' Brennan reiterated, trying to cover for the fact that they all knew. Three people, all of them trained CIA agents did not all forget to check in with their headquarters; they wouldn't all be so busy that they couldn't let everyone know they were okay. It could mean only one thing.

* * *

He looked around him, his brain trying to process the destruction before his eyes. The charred remains of chairs and desks lay dotted around the room, victims of the blazing inferno that had broken everything in its path. Chunks of plaster were hanging from the walls by the tiniest of threads, the windows were covered in a layer of black, allowing in only the smallest slivers of light. His eyes were unconsciously drawn to the large patch of disintegrating carpet. There were still the tiniest flickers of dying flames despite the many attempts by the firefighters to extinguish them. It appeared that even when she was dead and gone she was still capable of a lot.

He could still remember feeling the intense heat on his back as he ran from the room. He had known what her mutation was, known how powerful she could be and as soon as he had seen the first spark of the fire to come he had turned, sprinting away from the blaze. The door to the room had shielded him and the rest of the building until the sprinklers had activated and the fire brigade had shown up.

As powerful as he had known her to be he had never believed that she would kill herself. Daveigh had always been a reluctant mutant, she had never wanted the abilities given to her through a mixture of science and luck and she had definitely never wanted to fight for good or bad. And yet, despite that reluctance she had given up her life. She had to have been aware of the fact that she was going to die anyway, it was simply a case of her getting there first but it was still a big step to take, a lot to give up.

Movement and bustle continued around him as he turned and walked from the room, leaving behind the mayhem, the legacy of a series of events that were still in progress.

* * *

'I dare you to try and stop me,' she bit back. The argument had been going strong for at least five minutes. The decision had been made to send in a team. They would find Daveigh and the agents, dead or alive. If they were alive they would be retrieved and the original mission would continue with different players. If they were all dead then the actions of said players were as yet unknown.

The decision had set off a discussion between Shalimar and every other member of Mutant X about whether or not she was going with the team. Lexa watched on with raised eyebrows as the two men tried to convince Shalimar that she was not going to do herself any good but, clearly she was hearing none of it. It would have been amusing if it weren't for the fact that they were on a seriously tight schedule.

'Shal, you are not well enough for this. You seem to have forgotten that less than 24 hours ago you got your ass kicked,' Brennan said, the exasperation at the ferals temperament becoming more obvious by the minute.

'I may be hurt but you're hardly bouncing off the walls either. And besides, four new mutants have got to be better than three,' she retorted.

'Not if one of the four is struggling to draw breath because of her broken ribs.'

'Excuse me!'

Everybody turned to face Lexa. She looked stern, an expression they all recognised well. But there was something else behind the look.

'Shalimar will come with us,' she said, glaring at Brennan as he sighed and tried to interrupt. 'Sneaking into the building, after the series of attacks this morning will be intensely difficult and so if someone is offering us extra help in that I suggest we take it. And if someone could please remember why we're doing this that would be great. Today we lost three people to the Dominion. Daveigh may not have been well-liked but she never openly questioned what we asked her to do, and she died because of it. So, she gets my respect and gratitude at least.'

Shalimar's eyes focused on the ground a few inches in front of her toes. She couldn't believe that that day of all days they had been arguing. It had been rough on all of them and it was going to get harder but that was no excuse to turn on each other. And Lexa was right about Daveigh. Shalimar couldn't possibly conceive forgiving the woman, but she had died for them, for something that she had been dragged into. She should have been a passive observer like so many other new mutants. The fighting had to be done by those who had accepted and embraced their gift, by people ready to sacrifice all they had.

'No more arguments.' Lexa's voice broke in on her thoughts, almost pleading with them all.

Jesse stepped forward, towards the woman that his heart broke for every minute of the day. She never stopped caring, never stopped being strong and he loved her for that. Wrapping his arms around her shoulders he breathed in deep, enjoying the scent of her hair, loving the warmth of her body against his.

'No more arguments,' he whispered in her ear, the small sentence eliciting a smile.

'We should get going,' Brennan said quietly, his voice having the decency to bear signs of guilt. He didn't mean to make Lexa feel bad about the whole situation. Daveigh had kidnapped his daughter and he was finding it extremely difficult to get past that. But a job still had to be done. The Dominion wasn't finished, not yet and they had to be the ones to finish it all, to make sure that everything was over.


	22. Chapter 22

Sorry its taken a while. I've only got one exam but revision has definitely become a priority and I'm havng to fit studying in between work so have been a busy person. There are only 2 more chapters I think so not much more to go. Thanks so far for the reviews, its always so cool to read what people think.

* * *

The Republic Plaza rose up out of the ground before them, majestic, overwhelming. The setting sun had long since disappeared over the horizon of the world and the lights of the city created an orange glow across the sky. The building in front of them was lit up, lights shining from windows, people still moving around inside.

Jesse glanced across at the three people standing next to him. A range of emotions were displayed on their still faces, a variety of feelings, the whole spectrum of human sentiment. He didn't think he had ever been so proud of them all. The Dominion had split them apart, had ripped them all from everything they knew, but four years after Mutant X had crumbled they were all working together, interacting with each other just like they used to, just like the good old days. And now they were all about to overcome the last obstacle on their mission. The last Dominion building was literally in sight and they were mere minutes away from invading it, finishing everything off, giving the fat lady a chance to sing.

It did pose a major question though. The Dominion was the biggest force they had ever gone up against, it was the be all and end all of bad guys. What would happen once it was gone? Would everything go back to the way it had been? Would Shalimar reclaim the normal life she had fought so hard for? Would Brennan leave once he had nothing to stay for? Jesse and Lexa had been left once before and he wasn't sure that he could do it again; he knew Lexa couldn't. She would never admit it but she relied on them, she was dependent upon the people around her. He couldn't, he wouldn't watch her suffer like that again.

But now was hardly the most appropriate time to broach that particular subject with everyone. They hadn't even won yet and Jesse silently berated himself for thinking so far ahead. He needed to focus on the situation at hand. He needed to force his mind to concentrate on the present, on the moment.

Shalimar's eyes traced the entire height of the building, the intense fear that had been resting over her diaphragm all day increasing in weight. She wasn't sure that they could win. She wasn't the most optimistic person in the world, she had no real reason to be, but that wasn't why she was being so doubtful. Daveigh had already died, her and two other CIA agents. They were all highly trained and now they were dead. The future hardly looked bright.

But she did want to win so badly. Not for the sake of winning, not because she wanted to taste victory. It was for the same reason that she had always fought for so long with Mutant X, it was the same reason why, when Adam had picked her up off the street she had agreed to help him. The world deserved to be a little safer. A lot of bad things happened, there were rapists, drug dealers, murderers, child molesters walking the streets; but everybody knew about them, knew that they existed so Shalimar figured that the least she could do was deal with the things not everybody could see, the things people thought were confined to science fiction.

The slight heroic streak however, did nothing to alleviate her pessimism over the outcome of the mission. She wasn't sure they could win.

'So what, we're just going to walk in through the front door and take everybody we see into custody? I didn't think the CIA wanted anybody to know about this operation.' Brennan asked, his eyebrows raised as he stared at the impressive building.

'They don't. Our failures are fodder for the international media; our successes are need to know, why do you think we're the only people involved in this last stage. But walking through the front door…pretty much what we're gonna do,' Lexa replied. Sneaking around had never really been her style. Keeping things secret from the rest of the team, having to carry out missions behind their backs had aggravated her more than they could know. She had always preferred a more direct approach. And after sneaking around for the entire past couple of days she was fully prepared to walk in through the revolving doors, in full view of the security cameras. She was finding it very difficult to care what happened once they got in. It was going to be dangerous but she had always loved a little danger.

Unfortunately the CIA had disagreed with her a little bit, especially the part about walking into a building to face their almost certain deaths.

* * *

It seemed to him as if people hadn't stopped walking in and out of the room for hours. There was an almost constant stream of firemen, policemen, office workers checking out the damage. He had left the room only briefly, to call the other members of the Dominion Council but that had left him feeling uneasy. All of them were unavailable. Was it possible that something had happened to each of them? On the same day? At almost exactly the same time? He had never believed that such a thing could be possible. There was no way that anybody would do that, finish off the Dominion. But the involvement of Mutant X, which had been known as soon as Pierce and Kilmartin went to see the two runaway members had offset the balance. Things weren't as they should be.

He looked around him, noticing for the first time in a few minutes that the room was emptying out. There were only a few firefighters left, all of them completely covered by their chemical suits, one of them standing over the patch of charcoal covered carpet, the source of the blaze. He had no idea what to tell the authorities about the fire or how it had started, not that he had to. The Dominion was a powerful force and he could easily solve the slight problem of an explanation without too much trouble. But he felt that he needed to come up with something just to tide over the few people still in the room.

He walked across the floor, looking around him, unease in his eyes. The ceiling no longer looked quite as stable as it had previously and he for one did not want it to fall on his head. He skirted around a desk that looked like one touch would turn it to dust. As he approached the firefighter staring down at the patch on the carpet looked up, their face obscured by the regulation mask. He didn't like just staring at the eyes of the man. Without seeing the entire face it was difficult to know what a person was thinking and control was important to him.

A shiver ran along his spine. He had security on full alert ready to take out any intruders but he still didn't feel all that safe. Having still not heard from the other Council members he felt like he was in the dark. He shook the thoughts from his head and observed the room once more. The only people left were four firefighters, they were bound to be waiting for an explanation. He turned sharply as one of them pushed the door closed.

'What's going on?' he asked, his voice some indicator of the fear that had suddenly encapsulated his body.

'Hostile takeover.'

He turned again and came face to face with her. The blonde feral whose file was as large as the room he was standing in. She looked up at him, the chemical suit lying discarded on the floor next to her. As he stared down at her he watched the transformation from woman to feral. Her eyes seemed to burn within their sockets and a low growl emitted from her throat. He took a step back from her, walking straight into Brennan's strong figure. The blonde smirked as full realisation of what was going on hit him, like a punch to the stomach.

She could feel Jesse and Lexa behind her, their combined presence giving her confidence. It was almost like she could feel their emotions, like she was experiencing what they were going through at that moment in time. Her feelings were theirs and theirs belonged to her.

'Unless you hadn't yet realised, we're Mutant X. And just to refresh your memory, you've been pissing us off for at least the past five years,' the brunette woman said, her lips curling upward into a sneer.

'I know this,' he bit out, looking nervously around him.

'Then you'll also know that we're gonna have fun doing this,' Lexa continued, her voice harsh, cold.

'You're going to kill me, just like that. I didn't think Mutant X liked killing people, bad or otherwise,' he said, knowing that he was grasping at straws. They had every right to be angry with him, if he had been at the other end of the Dominion's attention he would have killed the Council a long time ago, or died in the attempt.

'We did a lot of things for the Dominion that we didn't like so for you we can make an exception,' Brennan said into his ear.

'But instead we thought we'd allow you to rot in a cell for the rest of your life. Sound good?' Jesse said, taking a step forward to stand next to Shalimar.

'Not really,' the man said, his teeth gritted together. He was not going to allow that to happen, he would not be confined to a small room to live out his years. He would rather die.

Pain shot through Brennan's head as the mans elbow slammed into his temple. He staggered back before recovering quickly. He stepped forward and tried to grab his arm but material slipped through his fingers.

Jesse landed on his back, caught off guard by the hefty shove the man had given him. His back ached and he knew he would be feeling it in the morning. He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and looked up at Lexa's concerned face. He nodded, a reassuring gesture and her frown disappeared, a smile appearing briefly before their attention was drawn in another direction.

She felt her hand grab hold of his wrist, his weight dragging her with it but it was like she was powerless to let go, she had to keep a hold of him because if she didn't then what was it all for. She could feel her feet dragging across the floor, no friction capable of stopping him. She watched in horror as he launched himself into the plate glass window. Cracks appeared before her eyes but she maintained her grip on his arm, shocked into paralysis. The glass shattered, some of it scratching against her skin as she squeezed her eyes closed. She could feel herself moving forward, unable to stop her momentum and she opened her eyes in time to see him disappear over the edge of the window, his body falling through the air, his weight wrenching her arm as she fell with him, the world spinning in front of her eyes, the height of the building swaying before her.


	23. Chapter 23

Sorry its taken a while but I just had my one and only exam (which went really well by the way) and so I've been understandably a little preoccupied. There's only one more chapter to go so please take the time to review (thanks for the reviews so far) and hopefully I'll get round to posting chapter 24 soon.

* * *

Shalimar smiled, her lips curving upward in delight, her eyes sparkling. She had viewed the scene before her so many times over the years but it always made her laugh, even when she was watching from the shadows. The swish of the ball gliding through the hoop followed by the few loud bangs as it hit the floor, bouncing across the ground before being picked up by Jesse.

'Dude,' Brennan crowed, his voice loud and bordering on obnoxious. 'I dare you to try and beat me now.'

'It can be done,' Jesse replied. 'You're only a few points up and trust me, Brennan, you're not that good.'

'The last shot says I am.'

They both turned as Shalimar stepped out from the dark of her hiding place, smirking at the macho posing. They both smiled, the broad grins of two people who were genuinely pleased to see her.

'I hope you two are playing nice,' she said as she came to a halt, hands on hips. 'Cos if not, I am going to have to take you both down.'

'Really?' Jesse replied, throwing the ball at Shalimar, her hands grabbing it just before it reached her chest, fingers wrapping around the orange rubber. Looking at both of them she raised one arm, the ball resting on her outstretched hand and threw. She couldn't help the grin that appeared on her face as she heard the ball slip straight through the hoop.

'Really,' she answered, her eyebrows raised as they both glared halfheartedly at her.

'I thought they had a rule about no powers,' Lexa said as she walked into the room.

'Just proving a point,' Shalimar replied, smiling in greeting at the brunette before returning her eyes to the men in the room. She could feel her mind drifting as she looked at him, her insides beginning the familiar process of melting as soon as he looked into her eyes. Sweat dripped off his chin onto the slightly grubby white vest and he wiped the back of his hand across his forehead. She would never have believed exercise could be quite so sexy.

Her heart trembled in her chest as their eyes met and she swallowed, hoping the lump in her throat would disappear. No such luck.

Suddenly and seemingly without warning pain, sharp and intense ripped through her hand, both her arms aching, the joints jarring against each other.

She looked down, her eyes becoming wide, the memories vanishing into her subconscious once more as she realised the gravity of her current predicament…and gravity was the operative word. The world seemed to be spread out before her, lights twinkling all around, cars driving below her, the rest of the city moving as if nothing extraordinary was taking place. Under any normal circumstances she would have loved the scene in front of her. It was beautiful and the night air had always held a power over her. It made her feel more alive, it caused her heart to beat quicker, her pulse to race, it pushed her to extremes she didn't even know existed. It allowed her the freedom to explore her feral side to the utmost. But these weren't normal circumstances.

She gritted her teeth, feeling them grind together as the pain wore her down. She looked up at her hand, the one that had, by some unbelievable twist of fate managed to grab the edge of the window pane as she fell, the window pane that was now smashed and broken. Blood, deep red in the dim light slid slowly along her arm, covering the pale skin with vibrancy.

She turned her head and saw the man she was holding onto, his legs kicking against air, helpless. It was beyond ironic that she, one of the many that wanted him dead was saving his life. Shalimar felt him twist, his hand slowly slipping from her clammy one, every beat of his legs forcing her to grit her teeth harder.

'If you want me to help you then you have to stop struggling,' she yelled, the pain becoming unbearable.

'And what,' he said between sharp intakes of breath, 'if I don't want your help.'

'You're willing to die?' she asked, tears rolling down her cheeks as she resisted the urge to let go of everything, the window, the man, all of it. It would be so much easier if she could just let it all slide away, leave it behind. Dying would be a release from a world that she had grown to despise. She didn't fit in anywhere. A normal life, the thing she had been trying to achieve since forever hadn't worked out too well and now, more than anything she wanted her team back, she wanted to return to Mutant X, the world that she knew and loved but she couldn't. She was not going to force Taylor to live in a mountain for the rest of her life, to give up school, her friends, the life that she had managed to carve out for herself just so Shalimar could have what she wanted. Letting go would be so easy, she would just lift her fingers away from the glass and then she would fall. It was so simple, all the complications taken out of the equation.

She closed her eyes, the air rippling across her skin. She smiled at the memories which rushed swiftly across her mind, her hand tightening around the ledge, gripping with renewed vigour. Life was difficult, of course it was, and she would never have all the answers. But she had never expected it to be anything less than hard. All her life she had known that she was special for a reason, and it wasn't just because some scientist had picked her out of a multitude of others. She had the powers that she did because she was capable of wielding them. She was stronger than most, and she kinda liked not having all the answers. Life was difficult but she would work it out. And in order to do that she had to hold on.

'I'm not going to be locked away in a cell for the rest of my life.' His words floated to her on the wind. She looked down at his upturned face. Their eyes met and she saw the resolve. It didn't matter if she was the one who let him go. He had already let himself go and sooner rather than later he would end his own life. She couldn't tell if he felt guilt for all the things he had done; she hoped so. She believed so. Human nature had a habit of, on occasion sucking but she had faith in humanity, in its constant ability to surprise her.

Gathering all the strength she could she swung her leg around, slamming her foot into his temple. His head drooped against his chest and his weight dragged on her arm as he lost consciousness. She was not going to allow him to watch his own death.

* * *

He felt her wrist in his own strong fingers. It was small, thin, felt so weak within his grasp he found it difficult to believe that she had held onto the window ledge for as long as she had. It had taken him a short while to recover from the shock of seeing the love of his life and the epitome of all evil shatter a window from the inside out. Lexa and Jesse were still on the floor, the breath knocked from their bodies.

Slowly he pulled her up, the slight thrills of fear at the massive drop in front of him shaking his stomach inside his torso. The view would have been beautiful but instead the adrenaline was pumping like crazy. He knew he could lift Shalimar but still, the feeling that he was going to topple over the edge, plummeting to his death and taking her with him wouldn't disperse.

Jesse watched as Brennan hauled Shalimar in through the open window, his heart still beating so fast that a heart attack didn't look too improbable. He could still feel Lexa's hand on his shoulder, her fingers shaking against his skin. After making sure that Shalimar was back in the building he turned to Lexa. He could see the fear in her eyes that only appeared when she was truly terrified. That look didn't appear very often.

Her lip quivered, any effort to stall the motion useless. She had closed her eyes on a friend dying only to open them again and see her bought back to life. Tears sparkled as they were caught up in her eyelashes, held there before spilling across the skin, leaving the faintest trails in their wake. Jesse took her hand in his own, stroking his thumb over and over again against the smoothness of her fingers. They were still shaking, the come down from the high of all that adrenaline was a tough few moments to get through but as she looked at his face, the occasional scratches proof that he had been busy all day she knew it was over. Fat lady or not it was finished. The Dominion was gone, every single one of them. Some were in jail cells where they would most likely rot until they died; the others had already reached that part. She smiled, the first one that day to reach her eyes. After so long the end had appeared, and sooner than she had expected.

Shalimar looked around her, her eyes taking in everything. She really liked the interior of the building. The fact that it was the interior as opposed to exterior of the building made her really, genuinely happy. And, regardless of the deep black marks caused by the fire that had raged not so long ago she had never been happier to have four walls and a floor shutting her in. She brushed her hair out of her eyes, back into the mess of blonde, the lingering pain in her arm reminder of what had just happened.

She looked up and there he was. He looked more scared than she felt, his eyes wide, his hand brushing back his hair, a clear sign that he was nervous. She reached out a tired hand and brushed her fingers against his cheek. It was rough with stubble, shaving not really a priority when you were attempting to save the world. Contact was all that they needed, words too much like hard work and she fell towards him, her other arm looping itself around his neck, pulling him closer as their lips met, his arms wrapping around her waist, lifting her up until she was standing on the balls of her feet. Her eyes slid closed and she shut the world out, all of it, everything fading away. All the death and horrors that they had all faced…none of it mattered because she was kissing the man she loved, the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, the father of her beautiful daughter and the only man for her. The old world had come back and it had been shocking, but she wanted it all, she wanted it all and more.


	24. Chapter 24

This is the last chapter of the story. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I loved writing it. Thank you to Courtney, Viviana, mfkngst, MXfan214, hi/hi again/hi...AGAIN, aniki19, prin69, shonnia, AussieMXfan, Xfan, bren88, Marie Crosby, MXGurl, Kiki-0400, Shal fan,12345 and ali09 for all your reviews. I really do appreciate the support and the reminders that there are people out there reading my stuff is great motivation. A special thank you to Steph (LoveConquers). You always see the things that I never even nearly notice and you find ways to make my writing better and to inspire me. You never fail to make my day with your emails so thank you for the time and effort you put into it. You're absolutely right: some people will never know how much a labour of love writing really is but you're definitely not one of them. Thanks to all of you and I hope you enjoy the last chapter.

* * *

She looked over the city at the incredible and vast skyline that faced her. She had, regardless of how she felt about her so-called normal life, missed her roof garden. The smell of night phlox and evening primrose filled the air, the sweet scents of each combining in the atmosphere around her. She could feel the air almost crackling with the anticipation of the night but it didn't excite her as it usually would. Her mind was on other things.

Watching her from his vantage point he could see the troubled expression on her face, lit up by glow of the streetlights below, the tension in her back and shoulders painfully obvious. She brushed her hair back from her face, a weary movement which only served to heighten the anguish she appeared to be suffering through.

He walked forward, quietly, his feet barely making a sound on the floor. As he reached her he brought his hand up to rest on her shoulder. She jumped a little, turning with surprise to see him.

'Well, that's a first,' he said, concern etched across his features.

'Yeah,' she replied in a whisper, turning back to the cityscape, leaning her back against his chest, enjoying the gentle rise and fall as he breathed in and out, the rhythmic beat of his heart. The normalcy of their current situation made her smile. In the midst of it all they were always striving for normal, a term they couldn't even adequately define. It was this abstract concept to them but it was what they had always wanted. It suddenly made no sense. Why would she so desperately want something that she didn't even fully understand?

Her eyes slowly closed, the tears slipping easily from beneath the lids. Difficult decisions were part of living her life, she had come to accept them as the price she paid for being her. But the first time she did this it had almost killed her. Leaving her family behind had made her life unbearable to the point where she didn't want to live it. She couldn't do it again, couldn't leave it all behind. Her normal life hadn't turned out so great and it seemed like the only place she would ever fit in was inside a mountain.

But she had more than just herself to consider. This time she wasn't being picked off the street by a guy offering her a whole new life, with actual food and a bed, two things she definitely hadn't owned at that point in her life. This time she couldn't make a life altering decision based solely on what she wanted, based entirely on what would make her happy. Se had to think about Taylor, had to think about what she needed. Shalimar couldn't possibly force her to live the life that she had fought against for so long. It wouldn't be fair to ask her to give up normalcy. It was the mother who was supposed to sacrifice everything for her child, not the other way around.

She opened her eyes, tears obscuring her vision, causing lights to blur into one. It was her home now. She would continue to live on the edge of it all, walking the line between one world and the next, trying never to stray too far into one more than the other, creating and maintaining balance, attempting to be a freak and a mother. She sighed deeply, her thoughts skipping between those she considered family, the only people she would give her life to save.

* * *

'Taylor!'

Her shout echoed across the school yard, mingling with the gentle calls of all the other parents. Shalimar's eyes darted through the crowds of children, eagerly searching. Her mouth broke into a wide smile as she saw the mess of blonde hair come racing towards her. She reached down and pulled the young girl to her, breathing in her scent, before standing up, grabbing the folder that Taylor shoved at her and taking her hand in her free one. They walked together towards the car, Taylor waving occasionally to people that she knew.

A click sounded as the car doors opened and Taylor scrambled in, throwing her school bag onto the seat next to her, as if without a care in the world. Shalimar waited until she had settled in before strapping the seat belt around her. She slammed the door closed, walking around the car and getting in herself.

'So, what did you do at school today?'

'I made a picture for you,' came the reply, quiet as Taylor became distracted by the changing landscape. She turned her head fully so she could look out of the window, the world passing by in a blur. They passed other cars, parents taking their kids home from school; children of all ages walking home, the sunlight seemingly putting a spring in their step. Gradually the houses of suburbia disappeared, larger mansions taking their place as they reached the edge of town. Luscious green replaced the grey of concrete, both of which had been warmed by the glow of the late afternoon sunshine. Over the edges of white stone buildings the delicious blue of the ocean could be seen, light twinkling from the tips of the gentle waves which moved slowly across it.

Shalimar took the opportunity that an empty road presented her and looked around, enjoying the beautiful views afforded her. This was always her favourite part of the day. She picked Taylor up and took her home, the little girl contentedly tired from a day at school, the mother worn out from a day at work. But it didn't matter how tired Shalimar became throughout the course of the day. Everything led up to this moment, this one perfect moment was where everything culminated. It was the one occasion where she always managed to be completely at ease. It was the favourite part of her day.

She dragged herself from her thoughts, turning instinctually to look at Taylor in the back seat. Shalimar had always been a protective mother, knowing what was out there, knowing what kinds of people lived in the world. She had never wanted her daughter to encounter those people, but Taylor had. She had been held hostage by them. Shalimar wasn't naïve enough to think that that was the end of the matter, that she and Taylor would be left in peace to live their lives. The bad people would keep on coming, but Shalimar would be watching. She would wait for however long it took, she would continue to be aware of where her family was at every moment. And she would take more drastic measures when necessary.

She turned her eyes back to the dark grey of the road, slowly raising her foot from the accelerator. Gradually the car slowed down and as her destination came into view Shalimar pushed the button that would open the garage doors, manoeuvring the car into the gloom.

* * *

Brennan was wandering the halls of the building. He wasn't sure why but he felt so restless and walking had presented itself as a good idea. But as soon as he had stood up he had realised that he had nowhere to walk to. So he had now been wandering around for half an hour. And unfortunately he was no closer to finding a purpose or a destination.

The excitement of the past week had been so much all at once. He had been out of the business for years, had managed to carve out a relatively normal existence for himself. And he had then been presented with the opportunity to rejoin Mutant X, to do some good, to help some people. It had all happened so quickly that he had been thrown off, his usual routines gone, his world turned upside down all over again, just like it had four years before when he had left. Except that way of life now seemed foreign to him.

He leant against a wall, feeling the cool smoothness against his back, through his t-shirt. His head lolled back, eyes closed, an outward façade of exhaustion, boredom when inside he was overwhelming himself with his own thoughts.

The corners of his mouth quirked upwards. He felt disoriented but he had this inherent confidence, something inside of him that assured him that he would be okay, that eventually he would get used to it all again, the shock of the old would no longer be so shocking. He wasn't sure how he knew all of that, but he did. Being in Mutant X had always felt right, and while he was a little off because of all the changes taking place he knew that the old feelings would return. They'd just take some time.

He turned as he heard footsteps, watching as Lexa walked into the room. She stopped in her tracks, looking him, her expression difficult to read as per usual.

'You don't have anything to do,' she said, what should have been a question phrased as a statement.

'Weird, huh?'

'Not really. You're a notorious slacker,' she replied, her eyebrows raising on her forehead, her eyes sparkling. He smiled as he noticed quite how much they had been doing that since she had returned to Sanctuary. There was an excitement in her demeanour that had been sorely lacking during the course of the mission.

'I'll have you know I am extremely hard working,' he said, pushing himself away from the wall and walking with her as she continued on her particular path.

'Oh come on. Take the last mission for example. You freaked out and then disappeared for like, an entire morning. That, as far as I and several important CIA bosses are concerned is slacking. What did you do anyway? Go off for a bagel and a cup of coffee.'

She laughed as he gently elbowed her in the ribs. Despite his protestations she knew that he had missed the banter as much as she had. It was comfortable, familiar.

They both walked towards the computers. Jesse, fitting right back in with no trouble at all was sitting in his usual chair, tapping away on one of the machines. Brennan would never know quite what the blonde man found to do all day, sitting in front of a computer monitor but he had a feeling that the answer would probably be out of his range of understanding. He sat down across from Jesse, leaning back in the chair and watching the couple in front of him exchange some information. He may have been working in Mutant X again, as were they but Mutant X was now a black ops CIA division, a secret organisation keeping an eye on the new mutant population. Without the Dominion funding the building probably would have been closed off to the world again, but the CIA had granted the team quite a budget, one that would service all their needs.

He smiled as Lexa leaned her chin on Jesse's shoulder to read whatever was on the screen. There was a softer side to the brunette woman that Brennan had never noticed before. Or maybe he had been too wrapped up in suspicion towards her that he had neglected to notice how caring she was and how she could, on occasion be the most vulnerable person in the room whilst maintaining the appearance of the strongest. He had a distinct feeling that it had something to do with her relationship with Jesse, the most unexpected relationship but potentially one of the most loving, one of the most stable he had ever seen, or ever would.

He looked over his shoulder, sensing a presence behind him. He saw nothing but knew that he would. The sound of heels clicking on the polished floor was slow to become louder, but there was another noise that caused the smile on his face to transform into a grin. Squeaking trainers and a continuous train of thought being spoken aloud. She rounded the corner, blonde hair, that had only that morning been drawn into a high ponytail messy beyond belief, curls displaced, framing her face. Mere seconds later an older version of the girl walked into view, her hair a little neater. Her face was hidden from view as she paid absolute unadulterated attention to her daughters conversation, one that didn't really require any involvement or input from anybody else.

She raised her head, chocolate brown eyes connecting with his, a contented smile on her face.

'I want a drink.'

Shalimar's expression changed to one of concern. 'Excuse me?'

'I want a drink, please,' replied Taylor, the answer returning the smile to Shalimar's face.

'Go through to the kitchen, get the juice out of the fridge but will you please wait for me before you start pouring it all over the floor…' Shalimar said, her voice fading out as Taylor ran through the room, dropping her things on the way. 'Cos we all know how fun it is to watch you make a mess,' she continued.

Shalimar picked up Taylor's coat and rested it on the back of a chair, placing her bag on the seat. Only once she had tidied up her daughters mess did she make her way over to Brennan, placing a hand on his shoulder and a kiss on his lips. She pulled back, looking him right in the eyes.

'Hi,' she whispered huskily.

'Welcome home,' he replied, both of them understanding the hidden meaning in the simple message.

'You wanna help us pour?' she asked, her tone perfectly serious, before she took his hand and pulled him up from the chair. They both walked through to the kitchen, the sunlight shining through the windows of Sanctuary, the world back the way it should be.

The world was glowing as the sun slowly made its way through the sky, blues and greens mingling with gold. The mountain shone, dotted with shadows caused by outlying boulders, the names of three people now present on the rock, carved there for eternity, the names of people who had sacrificed all they had for a world that would never know who they were, what they did, or how much they should be thanked.

And as the world glowed the team found the one place they could all belong, the group of people they could acknowledge as family. They had all found new lives but the only one that really mattered was the one taking place inside Sanctuary. They were home.


End file.
